Need Help From The Photo Gurus

[mcm 0]

Hey all, I need help from the photo guru's

 

Got my new camera rig wet last night for the first time. It was just the pool, but wet is wet

 

I know shooting in a pool is always a nightmare but I was really struggling with exposure, strobe setting etc and am in hopes that somebody out there may have some good pointers.

 

Rig:

- Camera Olympus PEN E-PL2

- Housing Olympus ELP-P03

- Zen Underwater dome

- Sea & Sea YS-01

 

I set the camera in aperture priority (like I always shot with my Oly 5050) varied the aperture between F4 and F8.

I tried several of the flash settings on the camera (fill in, slow1, slow2)

I the strobe there are setting for slow1, slow2, ttl and a manual power adjustment.

 

I worked through all the combos of settings but just couldn't get consistent results. Well, the one consistent result I had was when using slow2 on the strobe every shot was really over exposed.

 

Sorry I don't have photo examples, I left the memory card at home this morning.

 

Any thoughts on where to start? what/how to adjust? etc?

 

Thanks,

Mark

[acuevas 4]

This is just my personal point of view.

Forget the aperture mode, go directly to manual mode.

Set the camera and the strobe in manual mode.

 

Learn how the relationship between shutter speed and aperture works.

Use ISO in manual mode also.

 

Practice on land and be confident choosing the right aperture and the right shutter speed.

Then in the pool adjust both settings in order to get good lights in the background, once you get the background right you start adjusting the strobe in order to get the right illumination in the foreground.

 

And finally, use always RAW. Don't use the camera settings, you will find out that your camera is way better than you thought.

[Panda 3]

If you're using auto exposure it depends very much on what is included in the frame. Was it a dark subject against a light background?

If you're using spot or centre weighted metering then in one shot the camera might be trying to correctly expose the dark subject and overexposing the background, and in the next shot trying to correctly expose the background and underexposing the subject.

 

If you use aperture priority you need to limit the shutter speed somehow to prevent camera shake. If I use Aperture priority I always dial in -1.0 to -2.0ev of exposure compensation and have the strobe on manual.

 

Of course if you use all manual settings you have complete control over shutter and flash power.

[Hal 0]

Shoot in manual mode. As long as your strobe is in a stationary position, your exposure for the area being illuminated will not change.

However, you can change your shutter speed to pick up any ambient light. If your shutter speed is fast, the background will go dark. If you drag your shutter(slow down) the ambient light will come into play, and the background will become lighter.

Now, the tricky part is when the ambient light overpowers the strobe, THEN you have to make adjustments accordingly.

[scorpio_fish 5]

First, does your camera have a minimum shutter speed when set in aperture priority? e.g. will it only do the Nikon default of 1/60 as the slowest shutter speed? If not, then it is always give you the ambient light metering results, i.e. a very slow shutter speed. This can give you some strange results depending on how much of the scene is lit by your strobe.

 

Second, you didn't mention what focal length you were shooting and whether you were varying the amount of your frame that was lit by the strobe.

 

I recommend a very generic starting point. Put everything in manual mode. ISO 200, 1/125, f/8 if shooting medium to wide, strobe on half power. If this gets you close to the exposure you want, then adjust strobe power as needed or aperture for the ambient lit section of your scene. The goal is to start with a middle ground setup, so I rotation of a knob gets the adjustment in exposure I want.

 

If you are shooting macro, stop down to f/16 if you can and bump the strobe power. If you can't get enough strobe power on full then get closer or open up the aperture to f/14 or more.

 

As you shoot more, you will get better at picking a starting point. By limiting your adjustments to two things, aperture (which are already used to adjusting) and strobe power, you can quickly learn to adjust quickly after reviewing your shot. I'm very used to my setup. I hit the water with a specific manual setting, which is right in the middle of most exposures. If I end with major exposure adjustments for a specific, I sometimes even remember to reset the exposure to my starting point like I should.

[tdpriest 115]

Look at a copy of Martin Edge's The Underwater Photographer: it's distilled essence of guru...

 

Tim

 

[mcm 0]

Wanted to say thanks to everyone for their recommendations. It's back to the pool tomorrow night to practice in manual mode

 

Scorpio_fish, the default shutter speed is 1/60 but the camera does allow me to change that. What would you recommend as a starting point?

[mcm 0]

Hit the pool again following the advice that you all shared. Had much much better results this time. Thanks.

[divengolf 17]

Look at a copy of Martin Edge's The Underwater Photographer: it's distilled essence of guru...

 

Tim

 

 

Excellent reference. Many people consider it the bible of UW photography.

 

Make sure that you get the 4th edition. Much better organized than the 3rd edition and has much more on digital cameras.

[Ktay1111 0]

I agree with Mark (the first comment on this thread). Using manual mode was the best advice I have ever received. Although it takes some getting used to i think it provides the most control and you begin to learn what needs tweaking. I don't know if you can on your camera, but you might want to set up some preset configurations so you can easily change between macro and wide angle settings. Just a thought. Good luck!