Oona shot from underwater (Ewa-Marine bag with on camera fill flash)

This blog post is trying to tell how and what I have learned when trying to take the camera near and into water. I am not a diver, so the camera is not going very deep so the hard diving camera boxes are not touched in this post. In the beginning it was just about finding a proper (and cheap) underwater bag, but later I wanted to be able to take flash photography in water, so I had to figure out different ways of taking the speedlights into water.

First underwater bag: Dicapac WP-S10

During summer 2009 I thought that it would be cool to get some shots of the kids in the water also. Without proper protection for the camera it was a little hazardous. For Christmas 2009 I got a Dicapac WP-S10 (http://www.dicapac.com/new_eng/02_products/sub03-s10en.htm) underwater bag for the D200, that I had back then. It was not meant for diving, more as a splash proof bag with an “optical” quality front element.

During summer 2010 I used the bag on quite a few occasions to shoot in water. Quite quickly I realized the major flaw of the design. It was not possible to attach the front element to the lens of the camera. To keep the front element attached to the lens, I had to keep my other hand on it at all times. This was somewhat restricting. As you can see in the photo below (windsurfing) that if I let the front element loose, it would create dark areas in the corner of the photos.

Company windsurfing lesson - example of dark areas in the corner of the photo (Dicapac)

Despite the above described flaw, the dicapac allowed me to take photos that would have not been possible otherwise. Also it offered great protection from flying sand when we were in Denmark. Below is a bodyboarding shot that I could have not taken, if I didn’t have the bag.

Niki bodyboarding in Denmark (Dicapac)

In addition to outside shots, I also took some shots in the local swimming hall.

Oona swimming (Dicapac)

In the beginning of summer 2011, I decided to take some photos with the dicapac bag and a circular polarized filter. This combo showed the other reason where the costs have been saved in the product. The front element is made of plastic and with the circular polarized filter, all imperfections in the element are clearly visible. My reasoning is that these “imperfections” are in fact tensions that are created in the manufacturing process of the plastic front element. Don’t take this as a fact, it is just my educated guess. Below is an example shot.

Flaws shown when with a circular polarized filter, (Dicapac + circular polarized filter)

Second underwater bag: Ewa-Marine U-AXP100

Because of the flaws/properties in the dicapac and because I had realized that I use an underwater bag, I decided to invest a little more money and buy an Ewa-Marine bag. I happened to find a second hand U-AXP100 bag that I could test before buying. It turned out to be good for the D2x and in very good condition. Despite the Ewa-Marine web page saying that the D2x would not fit in, it actually fit very well.

Also it could fit an on-camera flash inside the bag. During summer 2011 I used the bag quite a lot. It was more convenient to put the camera in the bag and it was way more convenient to use it. The major differences when compared to the dicapac were:

• Front element is made of glass
• Front element attaches to the filter thread of the lens
• Ability to add/remove air from the bag via a valve
• Fits an on-camera flash
• Seems to be better build quality

The below shot is taken during summer 2011. I was lying on a surfboard at water level and Henkka tried to ski as close by as possible. I really liked what we were able to get with about 10 min preparations and 15 min of shooting.

Henkka water skiing (Ewa-Marine)

Using on-camera flash with the Ewa-Marine bag

The below shot is taken with the Ewa-Marine bag. I had an on-camera flash with a 1/4 CTO gel on it to give some fill.

Shot with Ewa-Marine bag and a on-camera fill flash (Ewa-Marine)

With underwater shots I learned that it is the sun shining through the water that creates the interesting “water-like” look. If there is no sun, it has to be faked. The shot below is taken with the on-camera flash above water and the lens under water. This created a cool “sun-like” effect on the subject.

Fake sunshine (Ewa-Marine with on-camera flash)

The on-camera flash is a nice addition also in underwater shots. One problem with the direct flash is that it illuminates all air bubbles (and in lake water all dirt). Below is a shot taken in a swimming pool with direct light, where all of the bubbles are illuminated.

Ode diving (Ewa-Marine bag with on-camera flash underwater)

Using external speedlights

We had this game where Ode liked to push me in the lake. I wanted to capture this on “film”. The problem was that the peer was facing the sun and would create awful lighting: either fully blown out sky or underexposed subjects. To overcome this problem I decided to use a speedlight to give some fill. The problem was that there was no room on the peer, so I had to choose a very calm day and put the speedlight with a stand into the lake. The stand was in the bottom of the lake with about 1½ m of water. As there were no waves, the stand managed to stay upright for the entire time of the session. Below is the result. The speedlight was on camera right in the water. It was triggered with Elinchrome Skyport radio triggers.

Daddy being pushed into the lake (No water bag, external flash in the lake)

The next step was to get the flash into deeper water. I tried to search for ready boxes that could fit a speedlight and a radio trigger. I was not able to find any, so I set about making my own. The simplest solution was to buy a 6€ air tight food container that would fit the speedlight with the radio trigger. I bought two at local hardware store. I glued some old mattress inside the box. This was done to keep the speedlight in place inside the box. Then a built a wooden raft to hold the box. The raft had two anchors attached to it, so that I could aim the light in the intended direction and keep it pointing there. Below is a photo of the first time the raft was in water with the box and a speedlight. The blue rope is just excess from the anchor. The yellow ropes are holding the box on the raft.

Anchored raft with a water tight container and a speedlight

The first real life test for the DIY water flash was when we went to shoot some sunset wake boarding photos. Some learnings from that session:

• It was very hard to tell which direction the flash was pointing.
• I was also in a boat. My boat was not anchored so I was moving about. This made it even harder to tell which way the flash is pointing.
• The beam of the flash is very narrow especially when a wake boarder is going past it very fast at a close distance. This resulted in countless missed shots.
• As it was getting darker it was very hard to say where the flash was. I had to try to take the photo exactly when the wake boarder passed the flash.
• Next time have a raft that can hold two speedlights. This would enable a wider beam and less power.
• When the wake boarder turned in front of the flash, the water spray would be illuminated, but the wake boarder is left dark. Next time take just straight passing or jumping photos, not water splashes.
• The two anchors held the flash in place very well.
• The raft and the box worked perfectly.

Below is one shot where I almost got the timing right. It was either a little late or then missing another flash to illuminate the front side of the wake boarder.

Sunset waterskiing

After the first photo shoot, I realized that the box leaked light from behind. I coated the inside of the box with aluminium tape to minimize this. It solved the problem of the box leaking light. The shot below is taken with the anchored raft speedlight on camera left and the camera inside the Ewa-Marine bag.

Ode jumping into the lake (Ewa-Marine bag and flash in water)

Summary of water bags

Dicapac WP-S10

Pros:

• Cheap
• Keeps water out
• Quality very good for the price (~100€)

Cons:

• Front element not attached to the lens (you need to keep it attached all the time)
• Front element made of plastic. If you use a circular polarized filter, all the irregularities (tensions) show in the photos

Ewa-Marine U-AXP100

Pros

• Glass front element
• Front element can be attached to lens
• Valve to remove/add air inside
• Fits an on-camera flash
• Very good build quality

Cons

• More expensive
• The dial knobs are hard to operate through the bag