Anybody who follows DWF’s adventures in diving has probably noticed my passion for underwater photography. It’s a cliche, but “easy to learn, difficult to master” has never been more apt. The more I learn and practice the more I understand just how much more room I have for improvement.
I have been taking underwater photos for over 12 years now. I started with a Canon Powershot S110 along with a used matching enclosure that I found on EBay (which I eventually flooded). Later I upgraded to a SeaLife Micro 2.0 which was a great early camera as well. Since the Micro doesn’t have an additional enclosure I never had to worry about flooding it. Later I upgraded again to a SeaLife DC2000 setup with one strobe and video light; later to 2 strobes; and I just recently changed out one of the strobes to a strobe/snoot device.
Until last year the one constant in my use of every underwater camera was that I always used the easy button! Don’t get me wrong…I love the easy button..I mean…it’s easy! But all that changed last year.
Last December, I took a trip down to Coco View Resort in Roatán, Honduras and as a Christmas present (to myself) I decided to spend a full day with their resident photo pro, Mickey Charteris; the author of Caribbean Reef Life. A great photographer and just an all around friendly guy.
Meeting with Mickey that first day we discussed a lot of the skills that both he and I agreed on that you need to take decent underwater photos.
My buoyancy, sense of composition, environmental awareness, and familiarity with my camera were all pretty solid.
That morning Mickey said “how about I teach you to shoot manual?”
“I’m in!”
And so began DWF’s adventure to ditch the easy button.
We began with a review of the Exposure Triangle, which consists of ISO, Aperture (F-Stop), and Shutter Speed. The exposure triangle is a visual representation of the relationship between those three settings. When you hit the easy button on your (my) camera, those parameters are set automatically (or mostly automatically) without much thought from the user.
I had a pretty solid understanding of ISO (camera sensor sensitivity) and shutter speed but not how to use them efficiently. My understanding of the aperture setting was less solid. For a good hour or two I sat in the CoCo View photo hut with Mickey taking photos, changing those settings, and starting to get a better grasp on the relationship between those settings.
We also discussed lighting, strobe positioning, why it should be a crime not to use diffusers on your strobes (my bad),custom white balancing, and use cases for wide angle and super macro lenses.
Later that same morning we went out to the CoCo View Resort house reef to put that new understanding into immediate and repeatable practice!
I had taken photo seminars before ISO/aperture/shutter speed concepts had been explained previously, but the real understanding of what those settings represent and how a change to one may necessitate a change to another didn’t come until I hit the water and started creating some muscle memory.
We hit the house reef, Mickey pulled out his slate and started directing me to take different kinds of photos. Sometimes I took 5 or 6 photos of the same subject; from the same angle; but with different settings to show the differences those settings could make. I switched between macro photography, regular scenarios to get myself comfortable smoothly changing subject modes.
During that time I also practiced some wide angle photography with no strobes by doing a custom white balance and adjusting the ISO and aperture.
For the rest of the week I continued to develop those habits and get more comfortable shooting manual. The results include macro shots that are crisper and have a better depth of field than anything I had shot previously; some great shots with non-standard lighting; some wide angle stuff that I could never have dreamed of before; and overall a pathway to keep improving!
It’s been over 6 months now and I haven’t used the easy button for a single shot in the water.
I really appreciate the patience that Mickey showed as well as genuine enthusiasm in passing along his wisdom gleaned from hundreds (if not thousands) of hours under the water taking amazing photos.
Stay tuned because one of these days I suspect that DWF will bring a group down to Coco View to do a photo workshop with Mickey again.
And once again…Thanks Mickey! It was truly a pleasure.
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