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The Overunder
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The Overunder



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Overunder shot. Diver on a white sandy ocean floor.

Overunder shot. Diver on a white sandy ocean floor.
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cameraNIKON D80

settings Aperture f/10.0 ISO 100 Shutter 1/200 

upload_dateJan, 2014

Views

8861

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Awards

Contest Finalist in People And Water Photo Contest 2017
Contest Finalist in Above Or Below Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in People In Large Areas Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in Monthly Pro Vol 27 Photo Contest
Contest Finalist in One Is Good Photo Contest
Winner in Fabulous Fish-Eye Lens Photo Challenge
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39 Comments |
jojoxena
 
jojoxena January 07, 2014
Cool!!
AlanJakarta
 
AlanJakarta March 12, 2014
Fabulous shot. Congratulations.
ashleybronwyn
 
ashleybronwyn March 12, 2014
Love the fish eye effect!
lindywalker
 
lindywalker March 12, 2014
so cool!! love this
catini
 
catini March 12, 2014
Very nice, congrats on your feature!
JRMBurley64
 
JRMBurley64 March 12, 2014
Well..... stunning... :o)
iceman2
 
iceman2 March 12, 2014
Beautiful capture.Congrats!
rmr731 Platinum
 
rmr731 March 12, 2014
Cool shot! Congrats!
GBloniarz
 
GBloniarz March 12, 2014
Uniquely impressive! Congrats!
Chrissimpson01
 
Chrissimpson01 March 12, 2014
Wonderful photo, love the three dimensional effect of above and below the water,
Coomanator
 
Coomanator March 12, 2014
I love this shot. Congratulations on the "Feature". I have added it to my favorites as well.
LoanaLMP
 
LoanaLMP March 12, 2014
Wow! Amazing image! Congrats!
jaxdolfan
 
jaxdolfan March 12, 2014
SWEET CAPTURE!!!! Congrats on the feature
DanK
 
DanK March 12, 2014
Fabulous!
WileKyK
 
WileKyK March 12, 2014
Absolutely awesome shot! Congratulations on your Feature!
deborahv
 
deborahv March 13, 2014
Congrats on Featured!
ShutterBug76
 
ShutterBug76 March 13, 2014
very cool shot
remustoderici
 
remustoderici March 15, 2014
great frame
szakul78
 
szakul78 March 21, 2014
fantastic!
KesPhotography Ultimate
 
KesPhotography March 22, 2014
Beautiful color and composition. Love all the curves in the shot. Took me a minute to see all of it. Wonderful piece.
hkphotography
 
hkphotography March 24, 2014
Nicely done. Congrats.
Euronimia
 
Euronimia March 28, 2014
Congratulations!
heathermcfw
 
heathermcfw April 07, 2014
well deserved
The_Sky
 
The_Sky May 05, 2014
Absolutely immersive in every sense
gondmagdi Premium
 
gondmagdi August 12, 2014
amazing !!!!!
Sheri_Stanley
 
Sheri_Stanley December 11, 2014
Genius!
p-jtaylor
 
p-jtaylor December 11, 2014
Cool shot!
FrankSomma
 
FrankSomma December 12, 2014
Waaaay Coool!
ilmar Platinum
 
ilmar December 15, 2014
I have tried to do this but never mastered it like you have. Congratulations.
gondmagdi Premium
 
gondmagdi December 19, 2014
wonderful capture !
onyanita PRO+
 
onyanita December 21, 2014
looks terrific...congrats!
tropicala
 
tropicala December 21, 2014
Superb!
vicki_france_4703
 
vicki_france_4703 February 16, 2015
Cool is right!
MRueffer PRO+
 
MRueffer March 05, 2015
A great image!
itsnickelwell
 
itsnickelwell April 22, 2015
A M A Z I N G !!!
Raghu2020
 
Raghu2020 May 21, 2015
awesome shot
MLundberg1
 
MLundberg1 June 24, 2015
How many takes to get this shot? amazing and such a beautiful perspective with the half water half sky!
ryansnodgrass
 
ryansnodgrass September 20, 2016
Uhhh those shots are challenging, very nice!
KLClosely
 
KLClosely November 16, 2019
Incredible shot!

Submitted to Photo Contests

Tags

#ocean #overunder #split shot #underwater #white sand #diver #diving #clouds
See all

Behind The Lens

Location

Island of Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean. The dive spot is called "Alice in wonderland", I was reaching it from the shore.

Time

At 10:30 am.

Lighting

I used just the natural light for this shot. The sun was up high and from right behind. Aperture f/10. Speed shutter 1/200sec. ISO 100. The light there is very harsh at that moment of the day, but because of that I could have a nice and even illumination in the submerged part of the image, with the surface creating shadows on the white sandy bottom.

Equipment

Nikon D80 Nikkor 10.5mm Housing Easydive Leo2 for Canon 7D and Nikon D80

Inspiration

The sky in contrast with the underwater part, indeed. Also the light and the shadows on the sea bottom created by the surface and from the diver. The previous two shot I took without the diver were missing something. So, I guess, that the diver gives to the composition an element of contrast, enhancing the underwater prospective.

Editing

Yes, of course. In camera Raw. Highlights, shadows, blacks and vibrance.

In my camera bag

Nikon D800, Tamron 24-70mm f2.8 Tamron 70-200mm f2.8 (top side photography) Canon 7D, tokina 11-17mm Nikon D80, 10.5mm GorillaPod Focus. Heads manfrotto. Polarizers, UV filters, remote shutter release, rain covres.

Feedback

Overunder (or spilt photography) is a concept always has intrigued me as the only way to picture two worlds together: the outside and the submerged. It is not an easy task. Many technical issues are involved. The difference between the light over and the light under, the focus, the ability to keep the lens (dome) half outside while floating with heavy gears in a dynamic matter as the water is and at last, but not least, the water drops on the outside part of the crystal dome which are there to make ephemeral all your efforts. I always dedicate a lot of time to get this kind of shots. The beauty and the challenge of this is that I get unpredictable results. Some of them are simply un-seenable, but a few are very visually captivating. To shoot overunder with a dramatic effect is suggested a fisheye or ultrawide angles (8 or 10mm). Very important is to shoot overunder in calm waters. The wide angle in the dome-port will give a nice “bulge” effect exactly at the surface line. Therefore it is necessary to be steady keeping the dome half in and half out of the water. I suggest to use only DSLR with the proper housing for this purpose. Usually I use the natural light as much as is possible, that gives me a more balanced lights in the split image. Carefull to the sun: shooting against the sun, not only will generate flares and reflections on the drops sticked on your dome, but also will highlight the impurities and the fine scratches of the dome port (especially if this is made by acrylic). In the case of an overunder shot, the strobes are used in the “under” part of the image (well positioned underwater) but this can highligt the particles (backscatters) just beneath the surface with uncontrollable and undesirable results. I use strobes with this technique only rarely, only in the dusk with the sunset light, when beneath the surface is darker (3 or 4 stops more compared to the outside) to illuminate eventually a coral or a school of fish, but it is very important that the water is clear and not murky. Use strobes can unbalance the natural light of the final image wich can appear artificial in the submerged part. Something that drive me creazy sometimes are the drops on the upper part (outside of the water) of the dome port. These irregular drops creates a deformation in some parts of the images and are unpredictable. To rid off of them the best way is to spit literally on the dome and spread it all over it with the fingers, than quickely immerge the dome in the water to wash away the spit and take the shot: after few seconds the drops will appear again! So it is better to get the correct aperture and try the composition first. For the focus usually, with an ultra wide angle or a fisheye mounted, I use the matrix AF-C and that works fine for me when the subjecs, both outside and/or underwater, are far more then a meter from my lens, otherwise, for closest subjects, I select manually the focus point in AF-C setting where I desire it. Be carefull to do not focus the surface line, because the rest will be blurred. I keep the speed shutter above 1/200 or higher. The preferreble aperture is between f/9 and f/14.

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