PhotoPro: Shooting from the hip

Barrier method: this image of a tiger shark was taken with the SLR camera held out in front View point: shooting from the hip allows you to have a better view of potentially dangerous predators while taking photographs Alex Mustard

Welcome. This column is here to help you take better underwater photographs. I hope to build on Paul Duxfield’s excellent and enjoyable Snapper School, talking technique for both compacts and SLR cameras. While this column unashamedly focuses on the methods of underwater photography, I do not intend to make this a tech-fest mired in jargon and camera settings. I would rather share the key aspects of the photographic process that differentiate a stunning shot from an average one. I hope my monthly musings will prove pertinent, whatever camera system you use.

I used a digital SLR to photograph this tiger shark. I could have produced a similar result with a digital compact camera fitted with a wide-angle lens, but I am glad I didn’t. Not because of any technical short-coming of that system for this type of shot, but I’d simply rather have a big, bulky SLR housing between me and the business end of a tiger shark. Size can matter!

An inescapable consequence of taking pictures in a murky ocean is that certain types of underwater photographs require specific lenses or other accessories. But I will try to avoid coming to the conclusion each month that you must buy this or that in order to bag the shot.

The golden rule of all underwater photography is to get close. Then get closer. Shooting through water saps the three Cs: colour, contrast and clarity. When the tiger shark is squashed against my dome port, I know I have got close enough! Although the jiggery-pokery of digital post-processing enables us to combat failings of our in- water technique and restore the three Cs, it remains important to nail the image in-camera for the best-quality result.

Many who have seen this image have complimented me on the interesting and precise composition. It is not cropped. They like the focus on the eye and the exact placement of the pectoral fin and tail. This amuses me because I wasn’t even looking through the camera when I took it.

I took this photograph while holding the camera out in front of me. It is easy to put a photo like this down to blind luck, but I believe that even a technique that borders on ‘spray and pray’ can be refined and exploited photographically.

One of the biggest advantages of shooting from the hip is being able to get a low camera angle, isolating your subject dramatically against open water. I often use this technique with lionfish in the Red Sea. On cageless shark dives like this one, it is actually the safest way to shoot. You want to avoid getting stuck in your viewfinder. It is important to keep an eye on the tiger shark behind you as well as the one in front of the lens.

The first time you try a shot like this, you are likely to miss the subject completely. So practise on your buddy, rather than waiting for a once-in-a-lifetime wildlife encounter. Soon you’ll only be cutting off your buddy’s legs. Actually, aiming is no great challenge with a wide lens. You may be able to catch a glimpse of the LCD, which will help – either with live-view if you are a compact user or flashing up your latest shot on a SLR – although at the optimum, slightly upward camera angle, the LCD is often just out of sight. Develop the skill and you’ll soon find that it suits many subjects.

With sharks, the mistake everyone makes is to aim at the head. If it is cruising past, you must aim just behind the gill slits to get the shark to fill the frame without cutting off the tail. Yes, it trusts a bit to fortune, but as the famous golfing quote goes, ‘the more I practise, the luckier I get’.

In the end, though, it is not the technique you use that matters most. It is producing pictures that make you happy. Before you can please others, your photography must please yourself. This tiger shark is called Emma and is well known in the photographic world as the top supermodel on trips run by Jim Abernethy in the Bahamas. Over the past five years, she has been a star of many photos and films, including those by the BBC Natural History Unit, IMAX and National Geographic. Her enormous size (4.2m) and apparently gentle disposition means she makes a big impression on everyone she meets.

Last February, a ‘sport’ fisherman visited the area and killed a 4.7m female tiger shark, cutting out her jaw as a trophy. I travelled with Jim in July and was upset to hear that Emma had not been seen since. We feared the worst, and for Jim, who saw her nearly every week, it was like losing a close friend. Then, one bright morning, a large, dark shape appeared beneath the boat. We jumped in and were greeted by a huge but gentle shark with characteristic markings. It was Emma, and this photo was taken on that very dive.

Although it shows Emma’s front, it should really be entitled ‘Emma’s Back’. This photograph makes me smile as it captures my happiest diving moment of 2008. I hope that this column will help you produce more images that make you happy.



Bytes...Bytes...Bytes

- The photography buzz at the recent DEMA (Diving Equipment & Marketing Association) show in Las Vegas was all about lightweight dive gear. Since US airlines have cut baggage allowances to (finally) be more in line with ours in Europe, dive kit manufacturers also have had to focus on performance and portability. Great news for those of us who have to travel with both dive kit and heavy camera systems.

- Nikon has announced a new flagship SLR, the D3X. Armed with a weighty 24.5 megapixels on its FX sensor, this professional camera has an equally hefty price tag of £5,500 – and that is with no lenses. You wouldn’t want to flood one on your first dive.


Image data

Nikon D2X SLR. Subal housing. Tokina 10-17mm fisheye zoom. 1/125th at f10. Subtronic Alpha strobes 1/8th power


Q&A

If you have any questions for Alex please feel free to contact him via our forum PHOTOPRO