Underwater Photography

Following his last article on working the subject, Martyn Guess provides some insight into and also tips on photographing diving seabirds and fast-moving subjects in order to get the best out of the photographic opportunities we find underwater

PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARTYN GUESS

In these travel-restricted times, we are having to make the most of the diving opportunities available to us and for the majority, this means on our doorsteps. I recently travelled to South-East Scotland to get into the water with diving seabirds.

This spectacle happens all around the world, so I recommend you check out locally where you can witness this amazing action. In my case I travelled to the Berwickshire

Marine Reserve around St Abbs and Eyemouth in the Scottish borders. Each year in June and July, there are thousands of guillemots nesting precariously on the narrow cliff ledges.

These birds spend the majority of their lives out at sea and only come into shore to breed. They dive underwater to find fish and sand eels to feed their ever-hungry young chicks and it was this phenomenon which I wanted to record. Whatever breed the birds are when and where you go, you will be sure to experience fast-moving and adrenalin-pumping action.

Once we found the specific area under the cliffs where there were the most diving birds, we carefully and slowly got into the water and got under the surface quickly so as not to spook them. Once submerged I swam slowly towards the cliffs and suddenly at about 9m-10m depth was joined on my dive by birds swimming/flying past me in every direction. It is amazing to witness this as the birds are not at all fazed by us humans being close to them, as they hunt for whatever prey they are looking for. I watched for a while and then started to think about how I was going to capture this extraordinary behaviour.

The photography is not easy as the birds are erratic and change direction very quickly and are also very fast. There are a number of different things to think about and while I will talk specifically about the guillemots, the basics are the same for other birds or fast-moving fish and larger subjects like sharks and dolphins, and also feeding frenzies underwater.

Image 1. Close up of guillemot flying through the water

Firstly, think about the type of images you want to record. Close ups of the subjects showing them clearly, facial features, eye contact, wing positions, etc (image 1) or larger scenic shots recording a true-to-life image of the scene in front of you (image 2). In truth you probably need to take both types of shots to create a nicely balanced and pleasing portfolio.

As you will be relatively shallow it is important to think about the relative position of the subjects against the surface, the sun and also the depths below you. As the birds move so quickly and erratically it is easy to track one and end up shooting straight towards the surface, where it is easy to burn

Image 2. Flying frenzy wide angle

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out the top part of the frame. Or end up shooting down into the much-darker sea background below you, where it is easy to end up with dark, underexposed images. If you can organize yourself, it is worth spending time on a specific type of shot, say close-ups at eye level, and then change settings again say for surface shots.

Having interrogated a few people before I went on the trip, I concluded that a wide-angle zoom lens would give me the most flexibility and the chance to get close ups as well as scenic images. In my case, as I use a full-frame DLSR, with limited zoom rectilinear lens options, I chose to use the Nauticam Wide-angle Corrector port. I think a fisheye lens would give you too wide a view and alter perspective of birds closer to you. For cropped sensors, the Tokina 10-17mm is a good option or with mirrorless cameras a mid-range zoom would work well. Compact cameras with their zoom range certainly give the flexibility required.

With the lens set to a mid-wide position at first, I quickly found that it is impossible to get close and also see the subject through the viewfinder. Virtually all of the shots I took were by using the camera at chest height so that I could watch the birds over the camera and shoot at the same time. You do end up with a lot of images with the birds not quite BIOGRAPHY MARTYN GUESS Martyn has been diving for over 30 years and taking underwater images for nearly as long. He is a well-known and successful underwater photographer with many successes in National and International competitions and regularly makes presentations to Camera and Photography clubs and Dive shows as well as The British Society of Underwater Photographers (BSOUP) and other underwater photography groups. Today he shares his passion and knowledge - As well as teaching personalized underwater photography courses he leads overseas workshop trips for Scuba Travel and his articles regularly appear in Scuba Diver Magazine.

where you want them in the frame, but with a bit of practice you soon get the subject pretty central (image3) or this can be dealt with in post-processing cropping.

I also moved the camera with the birds as they flew past to swing through them. I was often shooting against just a sea background so fast swinging or panning of the camera helped with sharp images, although it is important to use a fast shutter speed. When taking wider angle images of a scene rather than specific birds, it is much easier to shoot through the viewfinder.

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Image 4. Diving from the surface – adds context

Image 5. Sun rays and surface add context

I chose to use strobe lighting for the tighter images although you do need to be close to the subjects to get the light on them. I found that setting the camera up for multiple shutter release and low power on my strobes allowed me to keep shooting as I panned through the shot.

I tried both auto ISO and manual selection and found that auto helped for the darker backgrounds but not too well for shots shooting up towards the surface. Apertures were set to give a good depth of field – around F11 in my case, although I changed this around depending on the background light levels, given that the fast shutter speed is necessary to capture the fast-moving birds.

When I started to process the images after the trip, the images with the under surface showing or with sun rays, added quite a bit of context and interest and were probably my favorite type of shot for this subject (Images 4 and 5). It was easy to get the exposure right, by taking my time and then find a subject close by to put in the frame. You will be spoilt for choice – trust me! As the birds speed down from the surface, they leave a small trail of bubbles which adds to the interest and context. The close-up images show the birds nicely but unless there was say a jellyfish or another bird in the shot, it is difficult sometimes to determine whether the bird is actually underwater, which of course is the reason I was photographing them. I guess that being able to get close in mid-flight is something that you can’t do on dry land, so definitely worth having close-up images in your portfolio.

I have used similar settings, techniques and lens choices for shooting spinner dolphins in the Red Sea, where you tend to be snorkeling with strong sunlight. When shooting bait balls and also sharks, the chest high camera position together with panning is a great technique to use. I recommend finding out if you can easily access similar bird action close to where you live – it is definitely worth the effort. n