Underwater adventures!

Hello all. Following my last two threads of pics from my holiday, here's a final thread to show some underwater shots taken with the Optio WG-1. The ability to shoot underwater was one of the reasons I got the optio in the first place and I think it has done well, I am quite chuffed. Coupled with its decent all round performance out of the water I think it is a great product.

I have to say that the underwater shots took a fair bit of post-processing. I have never done underwater shooting before and it does present some specific issues. The pictures needed a much heavier contrast boost than I would usually apply (for my tastes at least) and there were some very strange colour casts to deal with - as a result I processed a lot into black and white, which I think works better for a number of them.

Anyway, here are a handful, these were taken when snorkelling off of Peterson Cay, which is a tiny rock off the south coast of Grand Bahama:

1. First up, some Brain Coral




2. and some more, with some very pronounced 'lensing' from the waves overhead:




3. A portrait of the snorkel guide, who will clearly remain forever anonymous:




4. Some fishes, a bit deeper in the water:




5. and a stingray in repose on the sea bed...




6. Finally, looming out of the deep... it's the missus!!




I hope you like these. I hope they demonstrate the capabilities of the optio underwater too. It does have one or two limitations. I found it very hard to freeze motion very effectively with the small onboard flash (using the underwater shooting preset mode), especially deeper in the water where it was darker, and using the flash of course means that the battery life is reduced, although a full charge lasted me a morning of snorkelling. The waters around the Bahamas are also gloriously clear so the conditions are pretty good for photography of this type generally I expect. I took the camera to about ten or fifteen feet depth, but it never leaked or had any water ingress issues. Overall I was very pleased and I think it makes a great holiday camera and lives up to its billing as 'adventureproof'

Happy for any C&C, there are more on my flickr stream if anyone wants to see more

Regards,

Very nice, I like the processing very much. Kind of like underwater lomography. The colours are superb but there black and white shots work really well too.

Nice set Mat, worth the wait.

A great set, colours and texture. Number 3 is really special.
Nigel

Well done Matt - I really like #2, you often get these weird light & shadows when in shallow water, it's less pronounced the deeper you go but can stil get gorgeous shafts of sunlight. I like the way the disturbed water has reflected in #6. The B&W works surprisingly well !

Try taking a powerful UW torch with you next time and just lighting up your subjects if they are in shadow - one handed works surprisingly well because as salt water is ca. x100 denser than air at sea level it helps stabilise your hand.

You've done a fine job there Mat. A nice set to remember your hols

Impressive set of images, well done.
David

Many thanks everyone for the comments - and thanks Frogfish for the torch suggestion. That sounds like an excellent tip! Pentaxophile, I think your 'underwater lomography' description is spot on - nice one.

Thanks again all