MARIA MUNN'S COLUMN: Snapping the Action

I am still pinching myself - on my way to show Gerri and Kev some Christmas Tree worms on Monday under the pier at Nuweiba, I had a phenomenal encounter with a huge bait-ball of yellow sweepers. The experience affirmed my love for compact cameras and the way they let divers swap between macro and wide angle shots on the same dive. If you love capturing these kinds of scenes as well as wrecks, caves and larger critters such as our beloved basking sharks, the wider angle lens you can use with your camera, the better. Always make sure you know what accessories are available for your camera in the future before that all important purchase. The experience was also yet another reminder to myself, always start each dive with freshly charged batteries and an empty memory card in case that once in a lifetime underwater encounter greets you.

Maria's once-in-a-lifetime scene

Never before had I seen anything like it in this area in just 2.5m of water. And in a few flash moments all of the golden rules of composition came together. Underwater mode on, film speed set and time to snap the action. I was accompanied by a friendly lionfish which made an excellent subject to give the bait-ball a real sense of scale. Keeping as still as possible was paramount to allow the bait-ball to move freely and also to keep the camera as still as possible to avoid blur. If you have an image stabilisation mode in your main menu, leaving this on will help to keep your photos sharp. I set my ISO to 125, but in hindsight, wish that I had set it a little higher to 200 when the baitball was under the jetty to keep the fish sharp. However, turning a blurry image into a black and white one can hide all manner of errors and give it a completely different look. Guess what I will be up to tonight!

I stayed still in one position and let the bait-ball move around as it pleased. The yellow colour of the sweepers contrasted beautifully with the dappled light of Nuweiba’s bay as well as the iridescent turquoise blue. Shapes are an interesting part of composing any photograph, as are leading lines. I framed the bait-ball under the pier with the pier’s legs on either side to give the picture a different dimension. Using a fisheye lens has created the distortion of the legs, giving them a bendy look. These lead the eye to the subject as well as providing a frame around it. I looked for different angles, getting underneath the subject, framing the lionfish moving around it all the time keeping the shutter button half-pressed and focused, ready to grab the next shot. Turning the camera vertically and shooting this way provided more interesting angles instead of staying in my comfortable landscape shooting mode!

The bendy pier legs

Finally, after capturing my fill of photos, it was time to switch to video mode. As Bryan Stanislas says in his excellent VIDEO ZONE column, it is really important to keep as still as possible and gently pan the camera with your subject slowly, trying not to cut off important bits of the subject. Again a wide angle lens is an essential tool for your compact when filming the “big stuff”. Getting as close as possible in order to fill that all important frame is also vital.

Have a phototastic week and if you have any questions, just drop me an email at maria@oceanvisions.co.uk.

For more information on compact camera techniques, don’t forget to grab a copy of Maria’s award-winning book “Underwater Photography for Compact Camera Users”, join her on one of her free demo days in London and Leeds, or treat your compact to a fabulous day of learning in a fun and relaxed style in tropical 32 degree indoor pools. Visit www.oceanvisions.co.uk for more information.

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