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Subject: More info on Underwater Videophotography

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kentrda
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Posted:06/24/2007 9:09 PM

Hello everyone. Over time, I've had the opportunity to observe underwater video from many different sources; local divers, like me, video professionals, like Annie Crawley (see www.anniecrawley.com ) and Berkley White (owner of Backscatter in Monterey, CA, and, of course, the many resort photographers that are hired by resorts and liveaboards to take pictures for us while we dive. I, personally have been shooting underwater video for 18+ years and have progressed through enough housings and cameras to open up my own store-UG. So, as I have taken my own pictures; coupled with the MANY viewings I have made of others' pictures, I would like to share some tips with all of you that (hopefully) will make your videos "A pleasure for OTHER people to watch." Note that I emphasize "Other People!" Sure, pictures are great memoirs of our own experiences. However, who likes to sit by yourself and look at your own pictures - especially video? Obviously the greatest reward in video is in showing that video to others'; particularly others' who don't dive! What better way (than with video) can we take our non-diving friends in to the water with us and show them why it is that we enjoy diving sooo much! When I started taking video, my camera was analog and the best I could do at editing was to start and stop my camera playback as I also started and stopped a videotape. Thank God for digital videography! Not only can we transfer video to a watchable format (such as a DVD), but we can do so with virtually NO loss, and NO gain (such as 'noise'.) We can easily pick out our favorite clips and organize them so that they are a 'pleasure for others to watch.' We can utilize cool transitions; not only for going from one clip to another, but when going to a new viewing subject. Underwater video isn't that difficult. In fact, I'd have a difficult time keeping track of all the do's and don'ts that my wife, Larissa, must remember while taking pictures with her Nikon D-200! Following, I would like to point out a few things that make GOOD, interesting (to other people) video: Like shooting still pictures, the first rule in video is: Think about where the sun is! While sun rays through the water are pretty, and silouettes are interesting, if you want to capture the truest colors, and beauty of the seas and reefs, put the light behind you and think about where it is before you press the 'Record' button. Even if you are using underwater lights (which can be done during the day time), placement of the sun is very important. Moreso, leave the silouettes to the still photographers. When someone is looking at a video, a silouette of something such as a pier, a turtle, or kelp, just isn't that interesting. When you shoot video, stay zoomed OUT (Shoot Wide!) as much as possible. Not only will this allow you to get more in the picture, but it will also (dramatically) reduce camera shake/movement. It will give you better depth of field, and, it will show the environment in which the subject resides. Next, keep 'zooming' at a minimum. Zooming is annoying to the watchers and damages the perspective of the video. If anything, zoom out - as if to say: "This is the fish, and this is where it lives!" The next thing I advise is that you should avoid doing is: "Panning". If there is a large area (too large for your wide angle to see), full of really neat stuff, take a video clip of the first part of it. Stop the camera and move it to the next part of the large area and take another clip. Then, when you do your edits, blend the clips together with a nice transition and your watchers will be happy campers. Avoid moving your video camera at all - unless you are following a moving object, like a large Bumphead Wrass. If you are 'following' such an object, you are not panning. But, if you move from one Wrass to another, that is panning and that is generally a no-no. Next, keep your clips short, and I mean SHORT. If/when someone looks at a still photo, they generally look at it for a few seconds. A good video clip generally shouldn't last any longer than a few seconds or you will lose the watchers' interest. Also, if your individual clips are long and lengthy, it will take you forever to edit and put together a video presentation. What about lights? First, if you are in good ambient light, and not doing anything fancy, use a red filter if you are below about 12 feet. Likewise, remember that if you shoot up from 20'; say into a school of barracuda, you might remove the red filter. Otherwise, the red filter will dramatically replace the colors that are lost in the first 10 or 20 feet of water. If you do use lights, try to obtain lights that are as close to the same color temperature (5500 degrees Kelvin) as daylight. By doing so, you can simply set your white balance on 'daylight' and not have too many worries. Of course, if you have your lights on, you should not be using your red filter (an easy mistake to make!) Good video lights are expensive. HID lights are the best and can easily run more than a couple thousand dollars. Nighttime videography with your lights will surely be the most rewarding photography you will take. Since no filter is used, all the colors will be natural, your auto-focus will work well, and you don't have to worry about where the sun is. As for editing... If you need to do color correcting and enhancing with your videos, then your pictures weren't that good to start with. In video, "natural" is the best and most desireable way to go. Personally, I'd be embarrassed to say to my watchers that I made my pictures look better than things really looked. It is nice to be able to adjust light levels if things are too dark or even too washed out, but, to add or subtract color or increase contrast is tricky and risky business and will probably do you more harm than good. Editing and compiling your clips makes or breaks your final product. As I mentioned previously, keep your clips short; not much more than 5 seconds each. If when you use transitions to go from clip to clip, avoid using 'weird' transitions, such as 'spinning off', crumbling away, etc. If you are changing to a new video idea, such as going from looking at small macro stuff, to looking at schooling Hammerheads, you might want to consider something like a 'page-turn' transition. Of course, you'll probably want to add some music to your video. Well, we all have our own unique tastes in music, but here's my suggestions: If the watcher(s) are inclined to hum or sing along with the music, it's not a good choice as it will take their attention away from the video. Music that has loud passages, and/or instruments such as horns and drums is also distracting. I strongly recommend obtaining music from the "New Age" venue which has recently become very popluar. Some Classical music is also very nice as long as it does not transition between loud and soft passages. It is often nice to add some of your own narration to the video as well. Sharing your enthusiasm of the experience is motivating for the watcher. As for resources: First, there are not a lot of resources for advice on underwater video. But, from all I've seen, I am most impressed with the advice that can be found on Backscatter's web site (www.backscatter.com) For an absolutely great training video, I highly recommend Annie Crowley's video training DVD. You can learn more about it, and order it by going to: www.anniecrowley.com Believe me, when you see the pictures she has taken, you will agree that 'she really has it figured out'. Best of all, she conveys her methods in a very easy-to-understand and interesting way. It's a 'must have' DVD! As I mentioned earlier, I have been shooting video for many years now. Of course, I started with analog video. My latest 'digital video' camera was a Sony PC1000, which I housed in a Light & Motion Mako Housing. That camera is a THREE Chip camera, shoots 16 X 9 format, and can even take stills on the side. It also made a very small, and easy to handle package. I sold my PC1000 when I moved into High Definition (I still miss my PC1000 very much!) Now, I am shooting with a Sony 3-chip FX-1, housed in a Light and Motion BlueFin HD housing. It's all topped off with HID lights (which can also be used to take the boat back to port at night!). Of course, the camera itself has zoom capabilities (up to 12X). However, since I keep zooming at a minimum, I have a "flip" macro lens which will allow me to get within 1" of a subject and completely fill the entire frame with a Pigmy Seahorse with excellent depth of field. Additionally, I also have an 80 degree wide lens as well as a 100 degree SuperWide lens that allows me to go Superwide without fisheyeing or viginetteing. The camera, housing, and accessories are huge and heavy out of the water, but are neutral in the water - thank goodness! Needless to say, when shooting HD, if you put your "HD" pictures on a standard DVD, your viewers will NOT see an HD (1080p) picture. Rather, the best they will see is a 720p/i picture, which is very good, but nothing as spectacular as true 1080p/i High Definition. Thus, to present your viewers with a True HD disk, you must edit your HD videos with software that is capable not only of editing HD, but which can also print your edited product to a HD disk, such as a Blu-Ray disk (Blu-Ray HD is quickly becoming the dominant format for presenting HD video). Okay, now that you have a Blu-Ray disk to watch, you must have a Blu-Ray player and HDTV to watch it with. Bottom line: Moving into and up to HD is a MAJOR investment. However, the results are phenomenal; as close to being there as you can get. Sound quality on an HD disk is also phenomenal as the sound is a minimum of 5.1 Dolby Digital. Kent Roorda

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