Express, always
An expression of freedom. Taken in Zanzibar, Tanzania.
An expression of freedom. Taken in Zanzibar, Tanzania.
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Mar, 2014Views
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Outstanding Creativity
Superb Composition
Absolute Masterpiece
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Jaw Dropping
Peer Award
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Same photographer See allBehind The Lens
Behind The Lens
Location
I took this photo on the East Coast of Zanzibar Island (Tanzania) right out on by the reef. It's approximately a 2km swim/boat ride. We took the boat, obviously! :PTime
This was closer to the afternoon than the midday. Although our original intention was to go surfing - the sun started to set & I couldn't resist seizing this opportunity.Lighting
All completely natural. I do wish I had devised some system to fire strobes from the water but thats a bit out of my budget these days. So, all in all - Natural Sunsetting light. A good thing with shooting out in the water is the water is quite reflective, as well as the white sand below - so that means that the shadows tend to become filled with some bounced light from the Sun.Equipment
I used: Canon 5D Mark III with a Canon 16-35mm f/2.8 II lens (shot at 35mm to remove as much barrel distortion as possible) I also used a SPL Splash housing (which is the kind of housing that one would use when photographing surfers in big waves. Strong, robust & reliable. Although it is not a "diving" house per se). That was all actually - the rest of the work came in Post Production in Lightroom & Photoshop.Inspiration
I had an idea in my mind about expressing freedom. The model was perfect for this as, I come from an island,and she has beautiful long dread locks and to me - thats a symbol of my island life. We were shooting her under the waves as they crashed by and this very shot was more of a playful break between the waves. I wanted to see how her dreads looked when she flicked her hair out the water. And voila... turns out to be one of my favourite :) Just goes to show you - sometimes, you need to experiment :)Editing
Yep sure did. Basically I did the basic adjustments in Light Room. Bringing back as much detail in the highlights and keeping the shadows natural. I didnt want an HDR look. Once I was happy with that, i exported to Photoshop where I removed distracting elements, added some curve adjustments, dodge & burn to make her stand out a bit and finally - back into Lightroom to finalise with colour toning.In my camera bag
It all depends on what im shooting but normally what is inside my Lowepro AW450? ( I think): - 2 Canon 5D Mark III's - Canon 16-35mm F/2.8L II - Canon 70-200mm F/2.8L II - Canon 24-70mm F/2.8L II - Canon 50mm F/1.2 L - 2 Canon 600 EX-RT speedlights + the ST-E3-RT remote - A cheap trigger release - Bunch of lens cloths, cleaning swabs & Air blowers to keep things nifty - And Sometimes, if im feeling strong enough ahah, I'll take the Tripod too ( Manfrotto)Feedback
If you had the chance to do this in a pool, ocean or lake - just make sure your camera is well protected from the water. You dont need a $20,000 casing - but just something to stop any inconvenient problems later on. Keep the shutter speed high while monitoring your ISO and shoot in burst mode. Its all about timing and shooting in burst mode really increases your chances of success. Count down with your model before she goes underwater and practice it a few times so she/he has a time-routine & you can better predict when they'll come out and create the image you'd like :)
