Working on Over/Under shots

[MaggieB 0]

Would love some tips on how to get both the topside and underwater in focus!

[Newwaterphotographer 4]

Gosh what a bummer no replies. I’m a new to underwater photographer but a life time above water landscape photographer. If it were me, the easiest way would be to shoot both separately. Then in photo shop lay the photos on top of each other and blend them. This way you can focus on the top scene get a sharp photo, then focus under water and get a sharp one. Super easy in photo shop to just mask off the one and blend the other in. Other best thing about this method is you can turn around and point the camera at whatever above water and snap a photo. Lay it over the top and blend it in and with the water line, it’s very easy to blend. 

[Newwaterphotographer 4]

I love this shot by the way! 

[ChrisRoss 150]

you need to stop down as the top part focuses like it does in air and the bottom half is is focusing on the virtual image from the dome which is 3 dome radii away from the dome, so you need a wide angle lens with good depth of field.  Probably also help to place your focal point underwater to get the whole image in the depth of field.

[TimG 62]

Hey MaggieB

A bit more to add to Chris' post on how to do these shots:

Slightly tricky to achieve as Chris explains. A wide-angle (rectilinear preferably) lens and a big dome port is a must. It's almost impossible with a domeport smaller than, I'd say, 8". 

The next issue is the one Chris highlights: underwater the lens has to focus on a virtual image of what you can see with your eyes. That virtual image is just in front of the dome ("3 dome radii" as Chris explains). Meanwhile, back above water, you are trying to focus on something presumably much further away. Possibly close to infinity. So depth of field is a key issue which means a very small aperture.

This can then kick into the problem of lighting the underwater bit - if the aperture is particularly small and the underwater areas not very bright. So you might need to use a strobe or two.

Then..... waves: the wrong wave across the domeport at the wrong time will spoil the image. So calm water is important.

And then.... the water will streak on the dome port and leave mini-magnifying glasses in areas of the image. One way around this is to spit n'dip n'click. So spit on the dome, wipe the spit around, quick rinse and then click the image. Easy eh?

The picture you attach looks as though the photographer had a bit of a lucky break(s). The boat doesn't seem to be to far from the whale shark; it looks quite a bright, sunny day and the water clear - all of which helps with that tricky exposure issue. The water looks calm - and maybe the spit n'dip n'click worked well - or again, the photographer got lucky.

Or as Newwaterphotgrapher suggests, you can fake it: Photoshop Can be Your friend. Feels like cheating though, right? But using, say, Lightroom to adjust the Shadows and Highs and maybe a bit of gradation of the exposures in different bits of the image seems a reasonable post-production way to pull this off.

Super pic