Eddy's Scuba Blog

The next couple of days were somewhat low-key, I did not have any rare encounters and in some respect it was somewhat disappointing. On the other hand, it was a good chance to hone in the skills and follow the advise that we were getting from the Drafahls.

During the next two days we visited the following dive sites by boat: Coral Garden, Andrea II, Sampler (Klein), Point Vierkant and Knife (Klein). In addition, I made three shore dives, two of which were night dives. The night dives were somewhat disappointing, we did not have any interesting sightings. However, I did perfect my settings for night dives, which will come handy later.

This posting is about how I applied some of the lessons that I had learned in the classroom, in the "field".

Adjusting and Positioning Lighting: Sanddivers

Sanddivers, as their name suggests, sit on the sand. In terms of focusing and framing, they are easy to deal with: they don't move, as long as you don't any sudden moves. The challenge with photographing these guys is the possible reflection from the sand as they like to sit on sandy areas. So, lighting is most challenging aspect in photographing a sanddiver. In this particular picture, I wanted to focus on the eyes and the little teeth. It took me about 10 pictures to get this right. I was moving my strobe around to get the lighting on the eyes. On a couple of pictures, I was getting a lot of reflection from the sand. At the time, I was using ISO 200, in retrospect, I should have tried a lower ISO like 100 or 50.

This is also a case where a second strobe could have come handy. No matter where you put the strobe, you were going to get a shadow somewhere because the subject is right on top of the background (the sand).

Sanddiver. 1/125 at f/8, ISO 200, 24 mm focal length.

Spotting Behavior: Trunkfish

In the past I've found that trunkfish were usually hard to photograph because they moved a lot. Most of my pictures of trunkfish have been from behind, and at best from the side as a result of a long chase. In turns out this time at site called Sampler in Klein Bonaire, this threesome of trunkfish were "hanging out" around a soft coral. They were swimming around and chasing each other. It could have been a mating ritual.

Trunkfish Pair. 1/125 at f/7.1, ISO 200, 24 mm focal length.

For whatever reason, the trunkfish allowed me to get very close and they were also curious. This allowed me to take pictures from the front. Since they moved around a lot you had to be ready with the shot. In this picture, I was no farther than two feet from the trunkfish.

Trunkfish Close-up. 1/125 at f/7.1, ISO 200, 24 mm focal length.

Behavior and Focus: Juvenile Drumfish

I have made several pictures of drumfish and I knew how they moved. They usually swim left to right and right to left and stay around a crevice, or a hole in the coral. One of the most challenging things about photographing a drumfish is getting the camera in focus. Since this guy moves rather fast, it is sometimes hard to for the auto-focus to lock in, especially on point & shoots that have shutter lag. In retrospect, it would have been a good idea to either use manual focus or lock the distance with a half press of the shutter button. In this picture, the focus was on the coral behind, but the fish was close enough that made the focus good enough.

Juvenile Drumfish. 1/125 at f/5.6, ISO 100, 24 mm focal length.

Waiting for the Right Moment: Ribbon Nudibranch

One good thing about nudibrachs is that they move really ... really slow. This gives you time to adjust your settings. However, one bad thing about nudibranchs is that they move really ... really slow. So, if you find them on a background that is not appealing or difficult to shoot, you have to be patient and wait until they move. In this picture, I shot the ribbon nudibranch from above. It would have been nice to photograph one coming off on a ledge, but waiting for the right moment on nudibranchs requires a lot of patience ... and air.

Ribbon Nudibranch. 1/125 at f/5.6, ISO 100, 8 mm focal length.

Looking for a Unique Composition: Soldier Fish

One advise about composition that has been stuck in my head-either by one of the lectures by Jack Drafahl or Marty Snyderman-is that two of anything always makes good composition. Soldier fish are common in the Caribbean and you find them everywhere. However, this was a good chance to practice with them. Their bright red color, which is usually lost in the depth, usually makes an excellent contrast to its surroundings. This is a fortuitous shot of getting a pair of soldiers each looking in the opposite direction.

Two Soldier Fish in Opposite Direction. 1/125 at f/5.6, ISO 100, 8 mm focal length.

In April, I took a photo course with Marty Snyderman. This course was sponsored by the guys at Underwater Photo-Tech Tech, perhaps one of the best shops that specializes in underwater photography in the North East. And curiously, it is not even in the water, is about 1 hour inland in Southern New Hampshire.

Marty Snyderman is a well-known film producer, Emmy Award winner cinematographer, still photographer and has authored nine books. His website is martysnyderman.com. Marty's work can be seen on Diver Magazine, National Geographic, Natural History, Audubon, Skin Diver, Dive Training, Sport Diver, Newsweek, Monterey Bay Aquarium, New England Aquarium and Seattle Aquarium.

The course was a full-day course and gathered about 25+ people. In my opinion, his pictures are quite spectacular, especially the ones with big animals. The course was pretty good, very well organized and with lots of interesting useful tips. He started the class with the following quote:

"If you want to pay those bills, you need to get close."

Here are some notes from the course:

Composition

• A powerful photo makes a statement. If people start asking "what is it?", you've missed the point. Audience is mostly non-divers
• Isolate the subject
• Fill a pleasing percentage of your frame
• Zoom with your fins, not with your lens
• Travel tip: Use an igloo, has less weight. Use socks, underwear as shock absorbers. Carry camera with you. Everything else check it in
• 90% of divers frame pictures horizontally, try vertical composition
• Rule of thirds: Split your picture with a tic-tac-toe board and focus on filling the intersections except for schools, circular subjects
• Pay attention to horizontal lines. Usually split a horizon, 1/3 water(top), 2/3 land (bottom)
• Try to catch leading lines, "S", diagonals, parallel lines
• When photographing fish, focus on the eye. Get light on the eye
• Head on, no butts
• Give moving subjects somewhere to go
• Negative space should give a positive impression
• Use a flashlight during the day. Figure out the real color
• Contrast between subject and background
• Get low, get close, shoot up. Use the psychological effect of how an audience view a speaker, from below.
• Photograph divers doing things they enjoy
• Models: split fins, swimming action, wait until bubbles are out of the face
• Shoot same subject repeatedly
• Neutral buoyancy is important before getting a shot
• Turtles: swim along them first

Equipment

• Flood happens on the first days
• Avoid distractions when setting up your gear, stay focus, ignore people.
• Check o-rings, not too much grease is needed, kust to get it "moist"
• If you feel stickiness in buttons, take it apart.
• Avoid hurries, first day rush.
• Dunk equipment before a dive
• Don't jump with your equipment, let others hand it in.
• Don't let other people handle your camera
• Use lanyard as insurance
• 30 second rinse after exiting to get the salt out
• Disassemble part after trip
• Pay attention where you put your camera on a boat

Camera

• Synch speed: the faster the better
• For digital cameras, high ISO has more noise, the lower the ISO the better
• Problem with an automatic camera is that people turn camera on, brain off
• Automatic settings is the surest path to mediocrity

• Type of shots

  1. ID Images - Aquarium, Fish ID book, parallel to plate
  
  
  2. Animated Pose - Personality, angular
  
  
  3. Animal in its natural habitat
  
  
  4. Behavior
  
  
  5. Dramatic Shot

Exposure

• (Guide Number)/(Strobe to Subject Distance) = f/stop
• Guide number is provided by the manufactures of the strobe
• Guide number - Intensity of the strobe
• Guide number in manual varies with ISO
• Two strobe formula: GN_n = sqrt(GN_1^2 + GN_2^2)
• Position your two strobes light like a "W", where the two lights meet is where the subject should be. This avoids back-scatter.
• TTL works great with macro
• For wide angle use long arms
• For back-lighting use slave
• Bracket for exposre. Bracket= shoot the same picture and change the settings incrementally

Sillouttes

• Your eyes must see distinct contrast between subject and surrounding background
• 1/250 shutter speed, usually f16 with 1/250
• If you see detail it's not a sillouette
• Dark subject against light background
• Digital weakness: sun burst. Get subject to block the sun
• If you properly expose background, everything else falls into place
• Exercise: shoot the blue water with different aperture. Use shutter at least 1/125
• Be aware of your bubbles and make the current your friend. Make sure bubbles are behind you.

Wide Angle

• Definition: Strobe lit foreground plus blue water
• When ambient light is not a factor just use the formula GN/dist = f/stop
• Look at histogram, if off the chart ... bad
• Get on the sunny side of Mr. Big
• Fast shutter speed captures daffling light
• Shoot in the early morning or late afternoon, angle of the sun causes rays to be diminished

A little note from Marty himself:

Wed, 03 May 2006 06:45:14 -0700

Eddy-

Thank you for your note. Took a look at your web site. You have some nice material there. Hopefully next time we cross paths it will be on a boat in the middle of nowhere. In the meantime, good shooting!

Marty