Fifty-fifty passion photography
Very good fotosub friends! For most of you the holidays are over and you have surely spent them in the water with your teams enjoying this beautiful passion. I hope you all have photons… I have not been less than you and I have taken the camera to each of my dives, which have been few. These last months I have been getting a taste for “fifty-fifty” photos and the truth is that by practicing a lot I have achieved results that I love. Well, today’s Post is dedicated to this kind of pictures with everything you need to know not to die trying.
What is Fifty-fifty photography?
The fifty-fifty photography is none other than that which depicts two different planes, outside the water and inside the water. We must take into account that we will need a big dome, adjust the exposure, correct the blur and shoot with bursts.
Have a big dome
First thing you should know is that it is absolutely essential to use a dome and that, moreover, the bigger the better, since it will be much easier to match the water line in the center of your dome, the bigger it is.
Adjust the exposure
Adjusting the exposure is another big challenge for this type of pic, because
usually the area outside the water will have much more light than the area under
the water. If your intention is to capture a particular subject underwater and
your flashes can illuminate it, you will have to adjust the exposure to the outdoor
area and worry about adjusting the underwater flashes.
Important: remember to position your flashes under the camera!
If you want to show an underwater landscape as well, you will have to decide which area you want to expose correctly or if you want to leave a somewhat underexposed area and an overexposed one. In my case, if I have no other choice, I would prefer this option and then adjust the two zones with “Lightroom”.
Correct “the blur”
Another problem you will encounter is that one of the areas will be out of focus. This happens because the water column makes the camera capture the subjects closer, just like we see everything closer underwater.
To correct this problem we will have to use a diaphragm opening value as high as possible. I remind you that the closer the opening is, the more depth of field there is, but also the darker the picture will look, so your challenge will be to find again the balance between depth of field and brightness.
Bursts Mode
Finally, I will recommend that you shoot bursts whenever possible. The movement of the water will make it very difficult for you to get that photo where the water line is
just as you want it, so shooting several times at each attempt will increase your chances of success. Instagram profiles: Lluis Masuet @masuleti_underwater
Don't forget to...
Raising the ISO sensitivity and lowering the shutter
speed will help you find the ideal point, but be careful
not to go over these values or you will get noise and/or
image flutter.
Adjusting the exposure is another big challenge for this type of pic, because usually the area outside the water will have much more light than the area under the water.