As my wife has become a more accomplished scuba diver/instructor, her underwater pictures have become rather impressive. Because I am, of course, quite bias (and also hyper-critical of my own photography skills) I think in the short time she has been diving and photographing the great underwater world...I believe she is currently creating better work underwater than I have above water.
Taking pictures underwater involves all the things you do above water, but also consider that you are encumbered with an air bladder vest, a tank of air, a mask over your face, a dive computer strapped to your wrist to monitor depth, air usage, dive time, etc., a bulky enclosure around the camera and an attached strobe...not to mention you have to have virtually perfect bouyancy! You also have to be patient for many of your subjects to get used to you and not just swim away or disappear into a hole. Movements have to be slow and deliberate so as not to scare the critters or stir up the sand and loose stuff that creates unsightly backscatter in pictures.
While we were in Cozumel two years ago she shot over 600 pictures over the 5 days of diving. The sting ray picture below was from that trip. The rest are current from this past July 4th dive trip where she led 27 people for 3 days of diving in Cozumel.
Let me know what you think of these shots (shot with a SeaLife point-and-shoot 6MP and no post processing):
(Click on each one for better viewing, BTW a couple of these have been re-sized so they will not enlarge too much)
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| Sea Flowers |
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| Spotted Sting Ray In Flight |
(I had this one made into bag tags for my wife's dive luggage)
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| White Sea Urchin Hiding In The Coral |
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| Reef Outcropping |
Thank you for your time and comments. I guess I will have to finally post some of my work now.
5 comments:
Brilliant photos, without taking into consideration all the things you have mentioned!
How did you get such brilliant color underwater? amazing!!
Madame: It is a great skill to be able to do all that...I am very proud of her.
CB: Those are not my shots...my wife took all those, she's the diver. Sea water naturally filters out the color spectrum the deeper you go. Using a stobe is essential and learning how to use distance and strobe strength is an art form to get the real color just right. She really has the knack.
Great photos. What an interesting way to make a living...
Back in the day I was also a scuba diver. Of course, here on the west coast our water is very cold and diving is not at all easy. I never did get an underwater camera! You can post all of these you want to...
Pat: Thanks. I hope soon she CAN make a living at it! I will try to post a few good ones each week. I know she wants to do the caged shark dive off Guadalupe on the Baja coast. I'll watch.
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