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Underwater
Photography Mistakes
Not
Having Good Buoyancy Control: Having good buoyancy control is the
first and foremost skill necessary for good photography.
Fast jerky movements through the water scares fish away, makes
your camera move causing blurred images, silts the bottom causing
backscatter in your photos and is just plain bad diving technique.
Using
Your Hands to Guide You (Sculling): Many
divers have reasonable good buoyancy control but try to fine tune their
position in the water by moving their hands.
This is known as “sculling.” It is not only poor diving
technique but the water movement scares the fish and creates water movement
that chases away other photographic subjects such as plume worms and
Christmas tree worms.
Being
Too Far from your Subject: Water absorbs the suns rays very quickly.
Consequently color is lost at depth.
If you take your photos from three to four feet from you subject
you will be able to use the internal flash on your camera to bring out
the best color of your photographic subject.
Further than four feet and your photos will most likely come out
in a monochromatic blue and white.
Opening
your Camera Housing on the Boat: You
should always seal your camera into its housing, while you are still in
your hotel room. Most hotel
rooms are air conditioned, which is low on humidity and puts less
moisture in the housing when you seal it.
If you open the housing on the boat there is a lot of humidity in
the air and you seal that in the housing when you close it.
Humidity in the housing will cause your camera lens to fog in the
water, dulling your photographs.
Not
Anticipating the Digital Delay:
Most digital cameras have a slight delay in taking the picture
from when you press the shutter release, often resulting in a late
photo. You need to realize
this and snap that photo a second or two earlier then you normally would
so that the fish is not out of position and you will achieve far better
results.
Using
too Much O Ring Grease: The
purpose of silicone or O ring grease is to lubricate the O ring and keep
it from drying out. Too much
silicone will actually cause the housing to flood.
It will grab sand and silt and it gets pushed into the O ring
causing leaks. Some
underwater camera housing manufacturers do not advocate using any O ring
lubricant at all. Read your owners manual to find out what your camera
needs.
Not
Pretecting Your Camera Housing:
When you first buy your new underwater camera you should test the
housing seal in a bathtub. Don’t
assume just because it is new that it does not leak.
When you get on the dive boat it is also a good idea to put the
housing in the camera rinse tank and look for leaks prior to each dive.
If it does leak you will see the bubbles and can remove it
immediately. Also the rinse
tank is fresh water, which is far less harmful then salt water.
Jumping
into the Water with your Camera:
Many divers think it is a macho thing to be able to jump into the
water with your camera. There
is nothing macho about it – it is just plain stupid.
Your camera O rings are designed for static pressure.
Jumping causes jarring or dynamic pressure which will cause your
camera housing to leak. Always
hand your camera down to someone or have them hand it down to you.
Always hand your camera up to someone rather then trying to climb
out with it in your hands. If
you do not have someone to help, tie your camera to a line and lower it
into the water before you get in.
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