Photography
So now you have a camera, what about some basic rules? To me there are some very simple rules of thumb:
- Firstly, a little like shooting, get as much lead in the air
as possible and you increase your chance of success.
In this instance film is free so keep on pressing
that button. With large capacity memory cards
available, 36 exposures is a thing of the past,
so have no fear about firing off as many shots as you like, and being
digital, seeing the immediate results. This also enables you to experiment-what
does happen if you do the unacceptable on land and shoot up at the sun?
- Get
as close to your subject as possible.
Even from the most powerful flash
guns (and that is certainly not any built in units),
the light travels only about 8-10 foot
underwater, and you need this light to bring out colour. Many digital
cameras have the ability to provide ‘macro’ or
close up shots, so get as close
as you can and in some instances that can mean
inches. Also, an unfortunate aspect of
having the flash within the body of the camera is backscatter,
reflected light from tiny organisms,
which reads as snow, and this can be minimized by
an external flash. Getting closer also
means less backscatter.
- If you see something you want to photograph, always
get one in the can before you
start to sloooowly approach (chase marine life
and it will flee assuming you
are a predator). Don’t
wait for that perfect shot, again you
don’t need to at the beginning,
you have virtually limitless
film. As you approach then you can take more and
better as your flash begins to
impact and hopefully your subject accepts your presence.
- Start to recognize colours underwater
as they
appear at depth. Dark green is really vibrant red and
when hit with a flash
can make dramatic foreground
- Try photographing things from
different
angles, maybe with the sun behind them and using flash
fill
- The sun is
as important
underwater as it is on land to photographers. Use
it.
- When photographing fish always try to
be either
slightly underneath so you shoot up, or at least on the same
level. You will never
get a good shot looking down.
- Bubbles make noise and noise
frightens
fish. Don’t chase
them,
breathe slowly, and much as this is a
diving taboo, occasionally you will
even have to hold your breath.
- Doing all this you may initially feel the need to seek a handhold
on the
coral. Do not under any circumstances use gloves, and if you
do need to hold
on, make sure it is dead, and quite often just a fingertip will suffice
to steady you. Also be very aware of what
your fins are doing whilst you
are busy at the other end, it is not uncommon to see poor divers
thrashing the reef with them.
Used your buoyancy skills and you wont need to thrash.
- Try
and compose your
shot. Use foreground much as you would on land.
- Experiment-it’s free