Every year we run several snorkeling photography workshops in different destinations around the world. Currently, we have our Belize Liveaboard Photo Safari and our Alor-Komodo Snorkeling Photography Workshop. As the Snorkel Venture Photo Pros, Duxy and I started running these different tours in 2022 and we had a blast, and the guests, ahem, I mean students, were able to improve their underwater images significantly over the course of the workshop. We cover a number of topics in these workshops, from light, composition, and subject selection, to editing. One of the main principles that we really hone in on is wide-angle photography. You can find out why we spend so much time covering wide-angle photography here. Basically, it's the best, most practical tool for the job. Unless you are using a GoPro, the lens on a compact camera, even at its widest, is not a true wide-angle lens. The field of view on a TG-6 at its widest is around 60°. A true wide-angle lens will have a minimum FOV of around 100°, with most being 120° and wider. In the eyes of most underwater photographers wider is better. Now, if you just purchased an Olympus TG series camera or any other compact camera for that matter in preparation for your snorkeling trip or underwater photography workshop, don't panic, there are some fantastic wide-angle lens adapters for the TG series and just about any other camera model out there. While you by no means need to have a wide-angle lens to join or to get great results from a snorkeling photography workshop, it would be very useful, and practical since it is sort of the focus of the workshop. In the past, we never urged guests to purchase any aftermarket camera accessories as we didn't want them to feel they needed
Every year we run several snorkeling photography workshops in different destinations around the world. Currently, we have our Belize Liveaboard Photo Safari and our Alor-Komodo Snorkeling Photography Workshop. As the Snorkel Venture Photo Pros, Duxy and I started running these different tours in 2022 and we had a blast, and the guests, ahem, I mean
With the first two groups of snorkelers happily on their way back to their respective homes after each enjoyed a full week of a quintessential Caribbean snorkeling holiday full of dolphin encounters, lush tropical reefs, and a magical private island resort Paul 'Duxy' Duxfield—the other Snorkel Venture tour leader running the trips with me—and I set off to meet our new group of guests aboard the Belize Aggressor III and the Belize Aggressor IV. These two upscale liveaboard boats are iconic in Belize as they have been running snorkel and dive safaris around the Belize Barrier Reef for years now and are the only liveaboards in all of Belize! Duxy would be leading his merry band of snorkelers on the Belize Aggressor III while I would be running a Snorkeling Photography Workshop from the Aggressor IV. The two vessels would have similar itineraries but would remain on separate reefs so as not to overcrowd the area and give both groups plenty of space to snorkel in peace. Turneffe Atoll Our first stop was at the southern tip of the Turneffe Atoll, just around the corner from the Turneffe Island Resort. Even though Duxy and I had just been here, we were excited to be back as there was so much we wanted to show our new group of guests. In talking with Duxy later on that week it sounded like we both had very similar encounters in the Turneffe areas with nurse sharks, eagle rays, porcupine fish, schools of tangs and larger stingrays, and the very beautiful yellow stingray which has an intricate ornate pattern tattooed on it's back. Both boats spent that day exploring the outer reefs, which would be a much different snorkeling experience from what we had planned for the following day around Lighthouse reef. Lighthouse Reef
With the first two groups of snorkelers happily on their way back to their respective homes after each enjoyed a full week of a quintessential Caribbean snorkeling holiday full of dolphin encounters, lush tropical reefs, and a magical private island resort Paul ‘Duxy’ Duxfield—the other Snorkel Venture tour leader running the trips with me—and I
What is a wide-angle lens? Wide-angle generally reefers to the photographer using a lens or a lens adapter that either goes onto the camera itself or mounts on the housing and will significantly increase the field of view beyond what the human eye can see. How wide is a wide-angle lens? A wide-angle lens will generally be anywhere from 120-180 degrees. The red line indicates what a standard lens on a compact camera will capture. If I zoom all the way out with my compact camera will I be shooting wide-angle? Most likely no, unless you are using a Go-Pro or another action-cam type of camera. Most compact cameras will have a lens that's somewhere between 70-90 degrees. How do I know how wide my lens is? All lenses, whether it's on a compact camera or the interchangeable type will give you a number referencing its focal length in milometers. For example, the lens of the Olympus TG-6 has a focal length of 25-100mm. Basically, the smaller the number the wider the lens. Generally, you want your lens to be somewhere around 16mm, this will provide you with the best wide-angle results underwater. Can I buy an adapter for my camera to make it wide-angle? Yes, most compact cameras now as well as mirrorless cameras have wide-angle adapters that you can put either directly on the camera or housing. Backscatter is an awesome underwater camera shop in California and their website is an excellent source for finding out what wide-angle lens options your camera has. What's a wide-angle wet lens? Basically, it's what I just explained above. It's what “they” call an adapter lens that goes on the housing. Water will flow freely between the housing's flat glass port and the backend of the adapter lens. A DSLR or mirrorless
What is a wide-angle lens? Wide-angle generally reefers to the photographer using a lens or a lens adapter that either goes onto the camera itself or mounts on the housing and will significantly increase the field of view beyond what the human eye can see. How wide is a wide-angle lens? A wide-angle lens will
Before we talk about the benefits of taking wide-angle photos, I want to quickly explain what exactly I mean by “Wide Angle.” Wide-angle generally reefers to the photographer using a lens or a lens adapter that either goes onto the camera itself or mounts on the housing and will significantly increase the field of view beyond what the human eye can see. For example, most compact cameras will have a field of view when zoomed all the way out of about 70-90 degrees, this is roughly what the human eye sees in a fixed position. Interpretation of the differences in perspectives from a 'naked' compact camera lens and a wide-angle lens A wide-angle lens or a wide-angle lens adapter will increase the field of view to anywhere from 120-180 degrees, depending on the camera lens and or adapter. So, as you can see, most compact cameras, aside from the GoPro, really don't allow you to shoot true wide-angle photos. In order to do so, you'll need to purchase an after-market wide-angle lens. For wide-angle lens info, you can check out this blog. For now, let's talk about the benefits of shooting in “wide-angle”. 1. Closer Really, the biggest benefit of using a wide-angle lens underwater is the fact that with this increased field of view, we can now get nearly twice as close to our subject without cropping our intended composition. On land, where we're shooting through air, we can more or less compose the same scene regardless of whether we're using a wide-angle lens or a telephoto lens, we just need to back up further. It doesn't work like this underwater, unfortunately, the more water we have between our camera and the subject the more clarity and color we lose in the image, especially in water with a lot
Before we talk about the benefits of taking wide-angle photos, I want to quickly explain what exactly I mean by “Wide Angle.” Wide-angle generally reefers to the photographer using a lens or a lens adapter that either goes onto the camera itself or mounts on the housing and will significantly increase the field of view
Can I access all the buttons when the camera is in the housing? If you have a camera and housing combination, it's very important to know whether or not you can access all the buttons of the camera once it's in the housing. Don't ask me why, but quite a few housing manufacturers don't make it possible to access all the different buttons on your camera. This is a good question to ask before you purchase a housing. If you already have a housing and just realized you can't access all the buttons and dials, look online for other ways of accessing that same control, sometimes there will be an option in the cameras menu system to toggle the same function without the button. What is the maximum depth my camera and or housing can be submerged to? This one is pretty self-explanatory, you don't want to be diving down deeper than your camera or housing is rated for. How do I access the white balance and or underwater shooting modes? All cameras will have a white balance function, but only a few cameras—like the Olympus TG series, will have underwater white balance and or underwater shooting modes. In order to get the best underwater color correction, it's vital that you know what white balance options your camera has and how to use them. How do I set a custom white balance underwater? Many cameras don't come with a built-in underwater white balance setting, so, in order to get great underwater images full of natural colors, it's important that you know how to properly set and store custom white balance settings. Does my camera have a macro setting or mode, if so, how do I access it? For those of you who love shooting small critters, knowing how to quickly
Can I access all the buttons when the camera is in the housing? If you have a camera and housing combination, it’s very important to know whether or not you can access all the buttons of the camera once it’s in the housing. Don’t ask me why, but quite a few housing manufacturers don’t make
