I’ve been diving for a couple of years and I’ve recently trying to take u/w photos with the following equipment:

Ixus 65 with standard u/w housing
Sunpack gflash strobe
Inon UCL 165AD close-up lens
Inon UWL 105AD wide conversion lens

I have problems getting the right colour and exposure and need your advices on how I can improve on this photo.

1. How do I correct the yellow, orangy tint?
I shot it with the following settings:

white balance -cloudy,
ISO - 200 in fairly poor viz condition (5m),
strobe - at around value 15.
colour - vivid
Macro mode
Center weighted average (what’s this..vs. evaluative vs spot?)

2. The higher the value of the strobe I set, the dimmer the photo, strange! How’s that?

3. can I use Macro mode with the close-up lens? What should be the angle of the stobe etc.

Thanks, I hope somebody can help me out…

Jiordano

I am a new member and have a canon G7 with an underwater housing. I am a novice snorkeller and so far my photography isnt good. I have tried the special scene with the automatic white balance with the underwater setting, my pictures are blured, not sharp and defined and as I havent learnt to duck dive am not close to the fish.  I have a 6x optical lens which when zoomed out distorted the photo. Should I use the manual setting or programme setting and put the ISO on 100 asa and use a histogram and not use the special scene mode. I also have an AV mode which I think sets the aperture and shutter speed automatically. I only snorkle in approx a 5 metre depth, I dont dive. Cant duck dive yet to get closer to the fish.

I’ve now bought a Canon G9 and plan to shoot in RAW format. I don’t have a lot of experience editing RAW files, but I always read RAW format allows you to do a lot of post-processing without quality loss. Does this mean I no longer have to custom white balance underwater (would save a lot of hassle imo), or is there still some advantage to setting custom WB underwater?

Furthermore, how easy is it to correct colors in RAW without quality loss? Would my red filter also become obsolete when shooting RAW? I’ve found that the red filter makes focussing more difficult, especially in low light, since it takes some ligt away. But i has generated some nices results for me when shooting jpeg with the S1 IS. Is there an advantage in using a red filter over correcting colors in post-processing?

For the record; I am using a Canon Powershot A620 with Canon housing so I don’t have any extra flash. Not too fancy camera

Hope anybody can help me. Thanks.

Cheers, Bart

as you may have read in the news section ”PADI launches a new digital photo course” in January during the BOOT SHOW. Some readers may have noticed my photo credits in the post. And “yes” your assumptions are right: I was/am heavily involved in the developement of this new PADI course. Due to that I will be very busy until x-mas. But I’d love to hear some feedback from our users and answer any questions you might have about it here.

Stay tuned!  8) Andi

Juan-Carlos

My previous underwater experience has been limited to disposable underwater cameras, and a one-week trip with a simple digital camera and a housing.  On this trip, I’m using a new setup consisting of a Canon SD800, Ikelite housing, and Ikelite DS125 strobe with manual controller.  The camera has a limited range of manual functions, namely manual white balance and ISO settings.  Nearly all other camera functions are automatic.  The camera does have a 28mm wide angle lens and a 3cm macro capability, so that should be fun.

My question is, where can I learn more about underwater photography techniques.  Either some instructions on where to start reading, or advice written here by members would be appreciated.  I’m mostly looking for advice on composition, how to use my strobe to achieve the right lighting, and how to shoot macro photography without scaring away the subject.

I’m definitely open to experimentation, and I understand that I’m going to take lots of pictures before I start to get proficient.  With your advice, my learning curve won’t be as steep.

Thanks.
Bart

Can some one wxplain the physical process of calabraiting white balance underwater using a late or grey card? I have read a lot about it but how do you do it???

How far away from the camera do you hold the slate etc? How long does it take?

Sorry if these seem silly questions!!

Ben