Fun with Underwater Camera
Yesterday, I was assigned to shoot a story about how public pools in Salt Lake are cleaner (less pee and dirty diapers) than the private pools in town. So, I borrowed a friend’s underwater housing-basically a glorified zip lock bag-and spent the day swimming. For the most part, it worked really well. But, for a few frames, the front element of the housing shifted, causing a black vignette in the frame.
Here are a few of my favorite frames. Hope you enjoy. Let me know if they work or not.
Chris – great photos! I especially like the first two.
Do you know what kind of bag you were using? I’ve looked at those, but I’ve been afraid to put my camera in just a bag. I don’t have the money to spend on those really complex housings, so I just shoot above the water!
David
David,
Thank you for the note. It was an Ewa Marine bag that I used. The bag worked well to keep the water out but it was very hard to move any of the control dials on the camera. It could be done, but it just took a few minutes. For $300, I think it is a good introduction into underwater photography as I don’t have the few thousand to spend on the more fancy kinds.
-Chris
Chris,
I like the black vignette in the next to the last frame, it reminds me of looing through a porthole on a ship.
Ken
Yo Chris, I’m digging the first and second and the last one has a nice composition. Really cool. Also lagree with what Ken said about the porthole picture, it adds another element and feeling other than just swimming under water.
Thank you guys for the notes. I am thinking about buying my own underwater housing now after this experiecne-and a good pair of goggles.
chris
I’d say they are working. Love the last shot.
Go with aquatech…a friend of mine does a lot of underwater surf/dive/journalism stuff and that’s what he suggests. There’s another company where the guy builds stuff out of his garage but I forgot the name of the company. Real good for surf photo. I’ll get back to you on the name.