Get close, get low and shoot
up. Generally speaking, this credo helps
underwater photographers produce crisp,
colorful images with subjects that often
appear to "jump out of" the surrounding
background.
Experienced underwater photographers commonly
say that the first goal in underwater photography is
"to get rid of the water." The interpretation is
that the closer you are to your subject, the less
water you shoot through, the sharper and more
colorful your images can appear. Less water means
fewer suspended particles between you and your
subject. Suspended particles diffuse and refract
light from the sun and from your strobe, thus
causing foreground subjects and backgrounds to blur.
Water is a selective filter of the color spectrum,
and the warm end of the spectrum (reds and oranges)
is filtered out first. This is true for light
emitted by a strobe as well as sunlight. Shooting
from too far away from a subject even when using a
strobe is the reason that so many underwater images
appear to be pictures of blue subjects against blue
backgrounds as warmer colors are filtered out by the
water column.
Getting close to your subject when using a strobe
shortens the distance that light from the strobe has
to travel, and this helps photographers overcome the
problem of a "muted blue subject against a blue
background" by "painting" warm colors into
strobe-lit foregrounds and foreground subjects.
Getting low and shooting up is helpful for several
reasons. The first is that no matter how colorful
our subjects seem to be, many marine creatures are
designed to blend into their surroundings. However,
if you get low and shoot at an upward angle you can
often compose your shot with your subject framed
against a blue- or green-water background. Doing so
often makes your subject stand out against the
background.
No doubt, people who seek power, our admiration and,
perhaps, our votes, often try to place themselves
above their audiences. Audience members are forced
to look up at the speaker, and this positioning
psychologically adds to the speaker's credibility or
stature without the audience ever being aware of it.
Similarly, as photographers it often serves us well
to shoot up at our subjects, as composing in this
manner has a way of making our subjects look more
dramatic in addition to helping our subjects stand
out against the background water.
Compare the two lizardfish photographs that
accompany this piece. I think you are likely to
agree that the picture on the right that was shot
from low and close, and at an upward angle is a much
stronger image than the one on the left that was
shot from farther away and at a downward angle.
|
