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Topic: New Photographer New Gear (Read 2566 times)
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duncan
Heretic
Global Moderator
 Offline
Boston, MA
Posts: 6409
Memories are made of bits
  
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Re:New Photographer New Gear
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2009, 02:55:06 PM »
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I am going diving on November 21 (training) and will use this opportunity to learn how to photograph.
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This implies you are not a certified scuba diver.
Do yourself and your instructor a BIG favour -- leave the camera home. You should spend the time learning how to stay alive, not how to take photos.
Sorry, but it is irresponsible to put your life and the lives of the people around you (who will feel obliged to come save you when something goes badly wrong) at risk by taking a camera with you when you are still learning how to dive.
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Duncan
C-5050Z (x2), PT-015 (x2), UCL-165 (x2), UWL-100, dome, D-180, ULCS tray & arms
all this gear and I still need warm water
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URL of this post: http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.php?board=15;action=display;threadid=26689;start=msg237268#msg237268
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mossad76
Cleaner Shrimp
Offline
Philadelphia
Posts: 96
Lord Bucket
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Re:New Photographer New Gear
« Reply #2 on: November 10, 2009, 11:33:25 AM »
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This implies you are not a certified scuba diver.
Do yourself and your instructor a BIG favour -- leave the camera home. You should spend the time learning how to stay alive, not how to take photos.
Sorry, but it is irresponsible to put your life and the lives of the people around you (who will feel obliged to come save you when something goes badly wrong) at risk by taking a camera with you when you are still learning how to dive.
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Hmm...wow...no it doesn't...way to jump the gun. Let's see what I am certified as: Naui Open Water, Naui Advanced. What other possible certifications could I be interested in which would require training: Photography, Rescue, Wreck Survey, Wreck Penetration, Deep Dive, Master...and to clarify - pretty much ALL scuba dive certification requires some kind of water training - with the exception of Nitrox (and maybe some others which I am not familiary with).
Btw - I have 30 dives under my belt - including night, cenote, 110 feet depth, with all of my training being in the North atlantic.
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Naui Master Scuba/Rescue/Nitrox - North Altantic
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URL of this post: http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.php?board=15;action=display;threadid=26689;start=msg237329#msg237329
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duncan
Heretic
Global Moderator
Offline
Boston, MA
Posts: 6409
Memories are made of bits
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Re:New Photographer New Gear
« Reply #5 on: November 10, 2009, 02:28:11 PM »
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Apology accepted  I can see how someone might have thought I was still in open water training.
So, lets move on.
I am thinking of going to a pool and test out the camera but I hear people get skittish with cameras under water so they may not let me do this. That and I would have to hold my breath for quite a bit of time under water (shooting at 2 feet of depth & snorkel may not offer me much in the way of training).
Also, in addition to my gear I listed - I have two S-Sun head mounted lights (3w each). They should help with giving good perm light??
When aiming my flash - should it be aimed directly at my target or at some angle. The flash did not come with a diffuser: http://www.leisurepro.com/Prod/CategoryID_971/Context_965/Sort_Stock/DescSort_0/Filter_1%3d512%2c511%3a2%3d869/SLF961.html?Hit=1
Actually just saw a diffuser is available...should I get a diffuser?
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Great!
Do you have a local dive club that uses a local pool for training? They might let you come along for the ride if you rent a tank from them for the night.
The head lights might help as "focus assist" lamps -- or they might end up pointing the wrong way and cause your camera to lock focus on something you weren't expecting to be the subject. I don't think there's any way to know without trying it.
Typically one would aim the strobe at an angle so that the "inside edge" of the cone of light it creates just brushes the subject. The objective is to avoid strobe lighting the water column between your subject and lens, which often results in the snowstorm effect known as "backscatter".
A diffuser is generally useful for wide angle shots -- less so for macro, but it can help even out the lighting if the strobe has a hot spot. If you're planning to do lots of w/a it's probably worth getting the diffuser.
More useful is something to block the light from the camera's on-board flash -- you need some to trigger the external strobe, but the rest of its output is just going to cause backscatter.
Whether you choose to drive your strobe in manual mode or let it do its "automatic" thing, you will have to put your camera in a shooting mode where the Aperture is fixed (either fully manual or Aperture priority modes work for this, but fully manual gives more control options).
The strobe makers might indicate a recommended aperture to use -- if they don't, you will have to use trial and error, pick a sensible starting aperture such as f/5.6 or f/8 and turn the strobe power up or down till your subject is nicely illuminated. If you hit one of the end stops on the strobe power knob, adjust your aperture to bring it into range.
With the aperture fixed, you can control how light/dark the open water background is by adjusting the shutter speed. Start at around 1/250th, aim into the wild blue yonder and take a shot. If it's light blue and you want a nice deep blue background, make the shutter faster (e.g. 1/500th). If it's black, slow down the shutter until it starts to brighten up a bit.
Each time you change the Aperture, you will have to make a corresponding change in the shutter speed to keep your open-water-blue constant -- which is why I suggest setting the aperture once and pretty much leaving it alone from that point on.
HTH
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Duncan
C-5050Z (x2), PT-015 (x2), UCL-165 (x2), UWL-100, dome, D-180, ULCS tray & arms
all this gear and I still need warm water
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URL of this post: http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.php?board=15;action=display;threadid=26689;start=msg237336#msg237336
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duncan
Heretic
Global Moderator
Offline
Boston, MA
Posts: 6409
Memories are made of bits
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Re:New Photographer New Gear
« Reply #8 on: November 10, 2009, 03:00:50 PM »
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The canon case comes with a diffuser so I have that covered. The camera itself will need to use the flash for the strobe light which uses an optical cable.
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See if you can tuck the end of the optical fiber between the diffuser on the case and the housing itself. If that works, you can mask out the diffuser with black electrical tape (go for the low-residue kind, not the 52c per roll variety) and convert the diffuser into a "blocker" ...
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Duncan
C-5050Z (x2), PT-015 (x2), UCL-165 (x2), UWL-100, dome, D-180, ULCS tray & arms
all this gear and I still need warm water
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URL of this post: http://www.digitaldiver.net/yabbse/index.php?board=15;action=display;threadid=26689;start=msg237340#msg237340
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- i like those kinds of instructions.
