A few underwater photos from Carraroe, Co. Galway...

joeKel73

We need more underwater photographers on here! Here's a few shots from yesterday off the coral beach in Carraroe, Co. Galway. First time diving with the newly acquired Canon G10, very happy with the results so far.














C&C Welcome....

Joe

Ricky91t

Wow! I'd love to do this! Great shots

Roy Rogers

I like 'em.

One question -- with underwater photography, what do you have to do about light? What kind of adjustments would you have to make for being down there, if any?

I can see from the EXIF that you used the flash -- I've got the G9 myself, and find the flash to be a bit harsh in most cases (as you'll get with a pop-up/built-in). That said, I've never used it underwater! Does the water diffuse the light?

djd80

Nice Shots...Very Clear...

Keedowah

Great shots!

Do you dive anywhere else in Carraroe - or is the Doilin beach the best you have seen?

joeKel73

Roy Rogers wrote: »

One question -- with underwater photography, what do you have to do about light? What kind of adjustments would you have to make for being down there, if any?

I can see from the EXIF that you used the flash -- I've got the G9 myself, and find the flash to be a bit harsh in most cases (as you'll get with a pop-up/built-in). That said, I've never used it underwater! Does the water diffuse the light?

Well when underwater everything is moving, including you... so you need a fast shutter speed to prevent motion blur. I'd use a minimum of 1/100sec.

The problem then is you need more light, and that reduces with depth too. So for all the shots above, apart from the diver ones, they are lit practically entirely by flash. I used 1/500sec and iso80 for most of them which would have come out very very dark without flash.

The flash on the G10 is harsh, but it's diffused by the large diffuser on the housing. This has two purposes - without it, the housing lens actually casts a shadow across the image and it also cuts down on scatter-back. By diffusing the light out different directions it prevents direct harsh reflections back from small particles in the water. Ideally you'd use a strobe on an arm for this!



For the diver one they were too far away to use the flash as a lot of scatter-back would be highlighted between them and the camera. So I upped the iso and lowered the shutter speed to the point of just about preventing motion blur. That shot isn't great, but good starting point for the next dive!

joeKel73

Keedowah wrote: »

Do you dive anywhere else in Carraroe - or is the Doilin beach the best you have seen?

I haven't, Doilin beach is very handy for parking up, getting in and out. If there is somewhere else you'd recommend I'm all ears!

Ricky91t

Who thinks foto-joe should arrange a underwater meet up? :pac:

joeKel73

I'd love to! Who dives and has UW camera?!

PCPhoto

foto joe wrote: »

I'd love to! Who dives and has UW camera?!

me.... but only just got my PADI qualification - so not uber confident/good underwater.

have a 5D and underwater housing and strobe.

Visuelle

Great shots, I am in the process of gathering a collection of underwater shots, I am off to Malaysia soon so I am sure I will get some cracking shots on my dives, I will post some here when I sort them all out.

stunt_penguin

I had my first dive with my new Powershot D10 back in December:

http://www.chrisdidthis.com/?p=306


it's a great wee cam, although I wish I could have RAW output- the noise reduction is a bit muddy. I mostly use it when I'm out kayaking, although it's good to 10 meters, which is good enough for a shallow dive (which is where most of the light is, anyway )

Edit : it also has an 'underwater' white balance feature so it mostly cancels out the tint present when you dive

greeneyedspirit

How cool are these! Well done, they're fantastic! I love the second one

Fenster

Bokeh! Where the hell's your fifty?

twowheelsonly

I'd love to get into it, been diving since the eighties but have missed out a lot in the past 3/4 years.
This is one that a friend took in Lanzarote @ 32metres(ish) with the camera he got from Aldi/Lidl for less than €100 !!!! Obviously not a patch on the likes of the G10 etc but perfect for snapshots - probably could be improved with practice as well. This was his first time using it and he hasn't got a clue about photography. A good cheap way to start though!!

joeKel73

twowheelsonly wrote: »

...the camera he got from Aldi/Lidl for less than €100 !!!! .....

.....A good cheap way to start though!!

I'd highly recommend looking out for housing for some of the older Canon Powershot cameras, they've full manual control and give great photos for the price. My previous camera (Canon Powershot A570is) I got for €40 on eBay and the housing for €40 on adverts.ie . So €80 setup and it took these: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36224551@N04/sets/72157623196281395/detail/

Well worth the €80 as this shot won me a dive computer worth around €750 about a month ago!! :eek: I got the G10 and housing seperately both second hand too, so there are bargains to be had, keep an eye out!

joeKel73

Fenster wrote: »

Bokeh! Where the hell's your fifty?

Come again...

trishw78

what kinda depths have you taken the G10? Is there a maximum depth?

I was looking at joining the local Subaqua club but in these unemployed times I can't afford it.

joeKel73

The housing is rated to 40m, these shots were taken at about 7m though - more light! I hope to take it diving in Killary soon, down to about 20m, set up on a tripod and get a long'ish exposure of a trawler wreck!

trishw78

that sounds so strange to be setting up a tripod underwater for a long exposure. Although I suppose without bringing pro gear down there that's your only option

joeKel73

I picked up a second hand tripod for less than a tenner so not going to be messing up great gear with salt water! Few weights on the legs... should do the job!

joeKel73

A few others from the same dive site in Galway;

breadbin

stunning pictures:) must get out there sometime too, if ye are organising a meetup let us know:)

joeKel73

Do you dive breadbin?

Irishmarinelife

Or find a shallow well lit rock pool if your housing hasn't arrived yet...

breadbin

foto joe wrote: »

Do you dive breadbin?

ha not yet;) its like another planet down there though so i think i will start over the summer. im no stranger to the sea though

PCPhoto

I'd be up for a dive sometime .... newly qualified, would need to rent gear but would be well up for an underwater photoshoot.

agentreid

very nice shots, you should try some diving in kilkee,co clare, great diving,my buddy does a lot of underwater photography and has got some great photos from there, even when he uses me as a model they come out amazing.

joeKel73

I've never dived Kilkee, dived Fanore without the camera and bridges of ross. Has your buddy their photos online anywhere?

agentreid

he had some on the kilkee dive centre web site, check it out they may be still on it. his best ones are framed and hanging on his wall though.

breadbin

these pictures are stunning and sort of piqued my interest. I have an Olympus 8080 that i don't really use so thought i'd get a housing for it. Thnk again!! they literally cost more than the camera. might have a look for an old canon like a previous poster suggests:)

joeKel73

It's quite common for the underwater housing to cost more than the camera.... price a few DSLR housings if you fancy a fright! :eek:

I highly recommend getting a second-hand canon powershot with manual control. You'll get an underwater setup for around €120. I was lucky and got my Canon Powershot underwater setup before for €80. Also I recommend keeping an eye out for the housing first! (ebay.ie, adverts.ie and divegear.ie).... there's a lot more second hand cameras around so shouldn't be too hard to find the model afterwards! Look into the model spec when buying the housing of course though!

PCPhoto

if you were both interested in doing an underwater shoot - I'd be up for joining, am a complete novice diver but eager to get out there and do some underwater photos....am based in Dublin but can be persueded to travel over at the end of the month.(maybe)

have a 5D and underwater housing and strobe

joeKel73

PCPhoto you say you're newly qualified diver but I'm not qualified to lead dives just yet (another few weeks, but only with buddies I know for a good while!).

What we could do is hit Carraroe (where all the above photos were taken) and go snorkelling, the life is all in the first couple of meters there anyway... because of the coral at Carraroe there's no sand or silt so great for photos as it doesn't kick up. It also reflects a lot of light so nice bright water too. Ye ever over in Galway?

PCPhoto

I'm sure I could go over some weekend (might have to drag the Girlfriend if its snorkling - she'd kill me if I went without her)

breadbin

what you guys think of the bags you can get on ebay for 20-30 quid? something like this one

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/UK-NEW-DSLR-SLR-Underwater-Housing-Waterproof-Case-Bag-/330369347796?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_BagsCases_JN&hash=item4ceb8c30d4

i know its probably not as good as a dedicated housing but it would save me a small fortune. they're not great sample pictures on the page though:~

joeKel73

Definitely wouldn't trust that! Not unless it's an old camera that you didn't mind flooding and could afford to replace!

Here's the housing I had before, great setup.
http://cgi.ebay.ie/NEW-Canon-WP-DC12-underwater-case-Powershot-A570-/330428036160?cmd=ViewItem&pt=UK_CamerasPhoto_CameraAccessories_BagsCases_JN&hash=item4cef0bb440

You'll pick up the Powershot A570is fairly cheap second hand too.

joeKel73

Have a look over here on my dive gear website too, few options that might suit you...

http://divegear.ie/index.php?category=For+Sale&sub_category=Photography

joeKel73

Firstly here's a video of the Thornback Ray in action, needed video to capture this properly! (http://vimeo.com/11931800)

Now a few photos;
(Going to embed the large versions this time, hope that's alright!)

joeKel73

^ oh and I should mention this set was taken using only ambient light. Water was a bit sandy yesterday and every flash shot was bouncing off it. I'll try take more ambient light shots in the future.

breadbin

wow, more great shots! love the video of the ray, its great the way it moves along:)