Snorkel Pic Tips?

[YellowTJ]

I bought a Sea & Sea MX-10 35mm underwater camera as I know the little toss aways don't always get great pics. Any of you who've been snorkeling can you give me some tips on getting great pics? I know it's going to take some luck but I'd like to put the odds in my favor as much as possible.

[scubaran]

I bought a Sea & Sea MX-10 35mm underwater camera as I know the little toss aways don't always get great pics. Any of you who've been snorkeling can you give me some tips on getting great pics? I know it's going to take some luck but I'd like to put the odds in my favor as much as possible.

 

Hi,

 

Of course there are a lot of variables like clarity of the water, how deep you duck dive down, size of the animal, how quickly they're swimming, etc.

 

For snorkeling, I've found that it's not a good ideal to use the built in flash since most integrated flashes cause more backscatter (those ugly white dots all over your pictures from the flash illuminating the particles in the water) but this means that unless you're shooting in 10 foot of water or less you can expect fairly blue pictures (which isn't always so bad). You have the alternative to shoot in black and white, which most people don't think of for that "something different" point of view. In addition, the rule of thumb in shooting underwater is to get as close as you can, then get closer. Nothing worst than pointing to a dot in your picture and talking about what an interesting subject that was in person. In addition, if you can adjust your f-stop and/or shutter speed, most folks start at f5.0 and 1/125 sec. minimum to capture moving fish. I also recommend not shooting faster than ISO 200 and recommend ISO 100 if you can find it. Water reflects a lot of light and ISO 400 can make your pictures too bright. In addition, don't fly through the water looking for subjects. Many times fish and other creatures "duck" into holes and crevices in the coral when they see a "big animal" like a human come swimming by in the water. Go slow, very slow, and when you go over a large coral head, try hovering over it for a minute or so and see what comes peeking out. Space on the reef is tight and I'd be surprised if there aren't large numbers of creatures living on the reef. Fish have a short memory so if you're motionless on the surface, they'll forget about you and start going about their business. Also look back constantly. You'd be amazed how many fish hide while you pass just to slide the other way once you've gone by.

 

Finally, if possible, try to understand ocean creature habits. Which fish don't mind humans, which fish are territorial (don't know how many times a damsel fish (3 inches in length) has "attacked" me while scuba diving when it considered me too close to its patch of coral. :) Knowing how the fish and other creatures will react to you and your camera will aid a lot in getting that "perfect shot" even with an inexpensive camera.

 

Randall

 

P.S. I shoot with a point and shoot with a strobe while scuba diving (believe me picture taking is a lot harder at depth) so expensive doesn't always mean the only way to get good pictures. If it helps, I've got an

extensive portfolio on my website: http://www.randallgamby.com with pictures and the names of all the fish and other things I've taken. Hopefully these will give you some ideals.

[YellowTJ]

Thanks for the info and your pics are great. We're going to Akumal where there is susposed to be a good chance of running into some turtles. I hope they will grace us with their presence.