under water photography lighting

Hi, guys. How are you?

 

Just saw Zena Holloway's amazing under water photography work.

 

http://www.zenaholloway.com/gallery/1/

http://www.zenaholloway.com/gallery/3/

 

I am new at underwater photography thing.

 

Does anyone know, how to do the underwater photography lighting?

 

How they make the light stay still?

What kind lighting, camera and other equipments do they use?

What need to be aware when shot underwater photography?

ﾅetc?

 

Thank you for answering my question and share your experience!

 

SunlightProjector

lots and lots of very high powered flash positioned above water. See also Howard Schatz's work

In the pre-digital era many, if not all, of the underwater photographies were taken with a Nikonos system, which in addition to be a water proof camera down to 50m, it also include one or two underwater strobes. Now most of underwater photography is done with SLRs put into water tight housings, but the strobes continue to be used with these systems. You can check underwater strobes/flashes in B&H, nikon, or ikelite websitess

Sorry Alonso. The original underwater photography were done using film camera in a

make shift housing. The Nikon Nikonos did not come along until much later. During

the time where Nikonos were popular the film SLR in a polycarbonate or metal

housing was popular with the professionals.

 

Shuhui. There are many types of underwater photography. After looking at your link I

presume you are talking about underwater fashion photography done in a fresh water

pool environment. With the examples you linked those images were created using

powerful lights from the top of the water and some fill lights from the camera

underwater.

 

Generally speaking a few rules about underwater photography.

1) Use a wide angle lens. That's where the dome port in a housing comes in handy.

The wide angle lens in a flat port will have distortion.

2) Use multiple underwater flashes. The more flash you use the less shadows.

3) Mount the flash as close to the subject as possible. Water has suspended

particles that can reflect light so the closer you mount the flash to the subject the

less reflection from the suspended particle.

4) Mount the flash on your camera housing via adjustable arms. Alternately if you

have a lot of helpers have them hold the flash at a 45 degree angle to the subject as

close as possible without being in the frame.

5) Move as little as possible. Movement stir up suspended particles in the water.

6) Get as close to your subject as possible. Water is not as clear as air so as you

move farther away the image quality goes down.

7) Dress warmly. A warm pool can get very cold very fast if you are not moving

around.

8) Shoot as shallow as possible. Water absorb light waves. The deeper you go the

harder it is to get light from the top of the pool.

9) Do more research on underwater photography. When I started underwater

photography the information were very limited. By now you should be able to find all

kinds of information on the Internet about underwater photography.

10) Practice, practice and practice some more. Sitting at home staring at your

computer screen will not get you anywhere. Go out and actually do a lot of

underwater shoot. You will fail most of the time but the time you get images that you

like will be very rewarding.

<p>Till now I only used outside of the pool studio flashes, you van see some of my work on: http://www.harryfayt.com</p>