underwatermacro

Working with a Macro Guide

Posted on by in underwatermacro and tagged , , , , , , , .

A couple of weeks ago, I spent the weekend at Anilao Photo Academy in the Philippines.  It’s a great experience and I very much recommend it to anybody who wants to dive and shoot.  It was my second trip there and it reminded me my love of their guides and why a dive guide is a good thing to have.  I’ve dived with both Jason and Doodz there.

I’ve also used a couple of macro guides in Tulamben (Darmada and Yansu and at times some of their friends) and have a ton of respect and love for them also.

I’ve also guided my friends in Pulau Tioman, Singapore, Japan, and even a little bit in Massachusetts.  Since I can find some creatures, I’m reasonably decent at taking the “swim fast, scare fish” crowd and turning them into “go slow and see things” macro photography divers.  And some of them are getting really good.

Guides are officially Dive Masters and as such they are there to keep you safe and get you back to the boat alive.  However, a good macro photography guide does a whole lot more:

  • Finds you subjects quickly
  • Finds a subject while you are busy taking photographs so that you have less time hunting
  • Knows where to find the rare and unique subjects

Working with a Guide

There are several things that you can do to work with a guide better.

Tell Them What You Want.  Before you dive with your guide, have a quick conversation with them about your skill level in diving and what kind of macro experience you want to have.  If you want to find a specific creature, tell them that and they will usually find it for you.

Show Them Your Pictures.  They usually like photos, or are at least too polite to tell you that you suck.  =)  But really, show them some photos off your phone so that they understand what kinds of photos you are capable of taking.  It will help them understand a little bit more about how you think and what kind of shots they can set up for you.  If you have decent skill, they will show you some of the harder subjects.

Learn How To Hunt.  At the beginning of the dive and when you finish with a subject and the guide is busy, you still have to hunt and find your own subjects.  While it’s great when you’re working with guides, you still have to have your own capabilities.

Know When to Leave a Subject.  If you’re working a very common subject or one that you have lots of photos already, the guide will probably find something better while you’re busy.  If you’re still taking pictures of that common subject, you’re losing time that you could be working something awesome, and dive time is always limited.  So get a couple of good shots then move on.  This could be clown fish, hermit crabs, skeleton shrimp, or even Pikachu when you’ve shot a lot of them on that trip.

Be Responsible for Yourself.  Get better at diving.  Monitor your gas consumption.  Retreat to shallower areas when you are running low on NDL or gas.  Learn the frog kick and don’t kick up sand and nudies when you move.  What this does is let the guide worry less about your survival and worry more about finding good macro subjects.

Take Good Photos.  This one is fairly obvious, but not in the way that you would think.  Guides want you to take good pictures, that’s how you tell your friends what an awesome time you had.  It also leads to referrals and tips.  However, the important thing is that you learn how to take good underwater macro photos before you book the guide.  Attend a workshop.  Do some dry macro photography.  Do macro dives at home.

Show Them Your Camera Setup and Techniques.  By this, I mean This has 2 main benefits.  The first is that if they know what the capabilities of your photography setup are, they can help you find the right subjects and angles.  For instance, they will know what size of subject can you shoot: how small can you go.  Or how close you have to get to the subject to be able to focus on it.  The second is that it helps the guide to know how to help other photographers with similar gear and techniques.

Be a Good Customer.  Give them tips at the end of your trip and don’t be cheap.  These guys usually grew up in the area and pay money back into the local economy.  Common tip for 2-4 days is $50USD and a week’s worth of diving is $100USD.  Credit and tag them in your photos so they can build a sort of online portfolio.  And most importantly, when you talk to your dive photographer friends and they like your photos, give them contact info for the guide so that they can get the business.

See You Underwater!!!

–Mike

On Batteries

Posted on by in philosophy, underwatermacro and tagged , , , , , , .

ABC: Always Be Charging

–Mike

Batteries are my personal nemesis that I’ve learned to work with over time, and I think that most underwater photographers also have a love-hate relationship with them.

My problems with most batteries:

  • Chargers take up space in your bags
  • Different types of devices have different batteries
  • Battery chargers usually come with a power cube of some kind
  • Some chargers have “fixed” plugs that don’t let them pack nicely
  • Batteries are heavy
  • Batteries have to be in your carry-on baggage
  • Batteries usually can’t be seen through on x-ray because they contain metal
  • Batteries heat up when they charge
  • Hot batteries in a sealed device create vacuum and offgas issues
  • Batteries will last for 2.5 dives on average and that third dive might run out
  • You can’t take photos with a camera that has dead batteries
  • You can take photos if one or two of your 4 light sources dies

Out of all these considerations, I have this strategy for batteries:

  • Have enough batteries for 1.5 days of photography
  • Minimize the amount of chargers that I have to take with me by standardizing on just a couple of battery types
  • Whenever possible, have chargers that plug into USB
  • Always Be Charging: batteries on the charger are one of the first things that I do after every dive
  • Take an extra set of batteries on the dive boat
  • Have 2 containers next to the charging table: one for empty batteries and one for full batteries
  • Whenever I’m not taking photos (hunting for subjects or waiting or on the boat), I shut off my camera, strobes, and focus light
  • I try to resist the urge to look at photos on the boat unless we’re headed back to the dock although sometimes I fail at resisting
  • I carry 2 spot-beam dive torches for tech-diver redundancy and to use as a macro torch
  • I have redundancy between my strobes, focus/video torch, and handheld dive torch so I don’t really need a full set of extras for strobes
  • If you’re diving with a guide, you will take more photos and will use batteries faster
  • If you’re doing 3 dives plus an early morning or night dive, you’ll need more batteries because they won’t charge fast enough
  • Chargers can go in checked baggage

And finally, my dive trip packing list:

  • 4x 18650 (2 handheld dive torches plus maybe the ScubaLamp MS-30 snoot torch)
  • 2x 26650 (1 focus torch)
  • 1x 14500 (dive computer)
  • Nitecore 4-bay charger for 18650, 26650, 14500 (it has a straight cord with no power cube) (in checked bag)
  • 12x Eneloop Pro (2 strobes and each holds 4 batteries, I don’t take a full set for 2 days because it’s just too many to carry) [See Note Below]
  • 2 Eneloop 4-bay chargers with folding US plug (in checked bag)
  • 2x Camera Battery (either TG5/LI92B or G9/DMW-BLF19)
  • USB-powered single-bay charger for camera battery
  • 2-bay USB charger for phone, tablet, batteries
  • Waterproof bag or box for the boat: I have a dive mask box that seals and is the perfect size for batteries and my phone
  • Extra bag for batteries in my carry-on so I can can just put them into an x-ray tray at airport security

 

 

See You Underwater

–Mike

 

[1] You’re maybe not supposed to put Eneloop batteries into a sealed device: opinions vary on this.  You can read more at WetPixel.  I hedge my bets by never ever using batteries right off the charger that are warm.  This is why I get them on the charger early so that they have time to cool.