Dealing with movement

[stranger]

I'm wondering how you guys deal with taking pictures while floating back and forth in waves. I can understand if you're kneeling in the sand or are holding onto an anchor line, etc., but what about free floating?

[FishFood]

I dont. Tried it once. It was too tiring and frustrating. Have to have excellent timing. Camera took too long to focus? Oh well, try again next time

Where are you photographing that is this shallow?

[DevilDiver]

Timing and practice. Half press shutter button to lock focus and be ready. Not that bad with a little practice.

[stranger]

Originally Posted by FishFood

Where are you photographing that is this shallow?

it would generally be on the second dive of a day trip that has some tidal action between the coral.

[BobArnold8265]

Shooting with tide or even during a drift dive is difficult. Especially if you are a good diver and don't want to damage anything. I have seen a number of ocassions where a photographer will grab the coral as an anchor and it really steams me. But back to your question. In current, the best thing you can do is bump up your shutter speed, and either manually focus (if your set-up allows you too) or half press the shutter release so you're already in focus when you're ready to shoot.

If you are ready to buy a new camera (or lucky enough to have one already), they seem to be getting faster with quicker focusing and less shutter lag. Many also come with lens stabilizers that help you take sharp pictures even when the camera is moving.

My camera is an older model and although it takes absolutely wonderful pictures, its' focus and shutter lag performance is pretty bad. I think this year for Christmas, I'm going to pick up something new

[gibson1525]

In surge it's not too bad. Try and position yourself so that your subject is at the point where you stop moving forward and start moving backward. This should give you at least one second to focus and take the picture. Of course shooting moving fish this isn't always possible but it's a start.

[stranger]

i don't have any camera setup worth mentioning (yet). my wife is taking her checkout dives this weekend, so once she passes, i think we'll do a few dives together before i start equipping myself for u/w photography

[RonFrank]

Originally Posted by stranger

I'm wondering how you guys deal with taking pictures while floating back and forth in waves. I can understand if you're kneeling in the sand or are holding onto an anchor line, etc., but what about free floating?

Floating back and forth in waves? So you are snorkeling?

I assume you are talking about surge.

First off, most photographer don't kneel in the sand, or hold onto an anchor line (or none I know do that). Photography requires good buoyancy. If you can't hang in surge, than work on it. It still requires timing, and that is where a fast camera can help. DSLR's will generally focus and shoot very quickly. If you are going for extreme macro in surge, than you will most likely get a lesson in frustration.

In strong current I generally do what I call drive by shooting. The fish are
moving along with you in most cases (they don't like swimming into strong current either!). I had a Huge Grey Angle fish hang out with me and my dive buddy in ripping current for at least 10 minutes. He was between us.

Here is a shot done is fairly heavy current.



You can see that the background is blurry, that is us booking along. I was facing backwards, and shooting into the current. The only problem with this is you need to make sure you don't go slamming into something while facing away from the direction you are flying!

Someone else also pointed out, increasing shutter speed can help, but if you are using a camera that is slow to focus, and fire, than good luck with that. You really need a DSLR to do this type of shooting with any type of success rate. The good news is there are other options!

[stranger]

Originally Posted by RonFrank

You really need a DSLR to do this type of shooting with any type of success rate. The good news is there are other options!

I have a Digital RebelXT but am hesitant about bringing it down with me. I'd really hate to have something happen to it since it's my primary camera for the other photography I do.

[CompuDude]

Higher shutter speed can help, where that's an option, as will better/faster cameras.

Other than that, it's really a matter of time and practice... and realizing that there are some limitations to what can be accomplished.