Underwater

 

 

In a couple of previous posts, I mentioned about a new project we'd been working on; a bit of a white lie, as its actually an older project, but we're shooting with better kit.  Since before we went to Uni we've both been wanting to shoot photographs underwater, but couldn't afford the expensive kit to do it with.  In recent years we managed to get a couple of sealable underwater vinyl bags which could be used for compact cameras, the latest one with a special toughened plastic section to accommodate the lens, but there was always limitations with this setup.  Even so, we both managed some very nice shots which have sold.

 

 

We managed to sell some prints over Christmas with our friends at Cupola Contemporary Art in Sheffield, and invested the money in the above; £40 got an underwater digital camera from Aldi on a special offer.  It has two settings, close-up or landscape, and is a tad basic but surprisingly reliable, all it needs is a thorough check that all the compartments are closed, and an equally thorough rinsing in cold tapwater after use.  It probably wont last too long, but for £40 its not bad at all.

 

 

First trials were by Amy, and a return to a location we've used a lot over the years, Criccieth.

 

The point of this test was just to try the different focus settings, we've found the 'close up' is pretty useless (above), landscape works better for our purposes.

 

Rather than fully submerse it, Amy took some shoreline pics this time.

 

 

In the evening we went into the woods near where we were staying, and shot some pics in a woodland stream, at a small waterfall, trying full submersion of the camera and thusly encountering a couple of problems with our new toy...  The first, above, is an awful 'datestamp' feature which somehow got activated without us realising, rather spoiling the above shot.

 

 

When we'd spotted and deactivated the datestamp, along came problem two, condensation in the lens, occurring in the ice-cold water.

 

 

We did manage a nice shot, above, behind the curtain of water dropping down the waterfall.

 

 

Next, it was back to the seaside on a nice day toward the end of the holiday, this time to Llanbedrog, where we shot most of our underwater pics in 2013.

 

First up, a couple of waterline shots, Amy aiming for a shot which had the surface and sub-surface in the same image.

 

Then it was fully underwater.

 

The last day of the holiday saw us at Beddgelert, photographing in the crystal-clear waters of the Afon Glaslyn which was beautiful.

 

 

These turned out really well, the clear water and strong sunlight giving pictures which were a marked improvement in the quality of the shots we took in 2013 with the older kit.

 

So what next?  Well, Ben shot a few pics in a pond, which will end up on the blog some time this week.  We've also proved the usefulness of the kit, so aim to finally do at least two underwater projects we've been planning to shoot for a while... more on these as they happen.