Green Turtle
Nov, 2015Views
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Behind The Lens
Location
The photo was taken in Akumal Bay, Quintana Roo, Mexico. Akumal means 'place of the turtles' in Mayan and so it should not be too surprising that this is a great place to snorkel and dive with Turtles.Time
This was taken on our second dive of the day, so sometime around noon on a beautiful summers day in August. I remember it being two of the best dives I've done in Akumal.Lighting
Underwater we need to balance the ambient daylight and the artificial light from the strobes to achieve a natural looking image. It was a quite shallow and a bright day around noon so the ambient light was very good. The strobes were set medium-low to provide just some fill and to just brighten up the subject a little.Equipment
I shoot with an Olympus OM-D E-M5 micro four thirds camera. This shot was taken with the Panasonic 8mm f3.5 fisheye, in a Nauticam housing with 4.33" dome port, and dual Sea & Sea YS-D1 strobes.Inspiration
The turtles at Akumal are great subjects, and are often curious and inquisitive. This one was particularly friendly and swam along with me for quite some time. In this shot he'd just spotted his reflection in the dome port, and was turning towards me to swim closer, which was all the inspiration needed.Editing
The image just needed some basic colour correction and some minor contrast & exposure adjustments, plus I tightened up the framing just a little with a minor crop.In my camera bag
Underwater I predominately shoot wide-angle, so I most often use a fisheye lens. I have recently upgraded to the Olympus 8mm f1.8 which is an incredible lens. Sometimes I use my Olympus 12mm f2 (which works well behind the same 4.33" dome port if you add a +5 close up lens) if I want to avoid the distortion of a fisheye or for more skittish subjects that would be a bit too far away for the fisheye. I use housings and ports from Nauticam, and now use Sea & Sea YS-D2 strobes.Feedback
For this type of shot you need a wide-angle lens and a co-operative subject. Underexpose the background by a stop or two to give a nice deep blue. Position the strobes in close but behind the dome port and angle them out slightly to give even coverage. Angle the camera upwards slight to capture the texture on the surface of the water and to create a slightly more dramatic feel.
