Underwater portrait photography skills

Lead: When shooting portraits in water, the buoyancy effect creates a world without gravity, and between the refraction and reflection of light, it presents a scene like another dimension. How to prepare and shoot portraits in the water to look good? Let photographer Brian tell us that the focus of water portraits should be on the pre-production industry, prepare waterproof covers and frog mirrors, and step into the new field of water photography together!

I believe many friends have seen some photos of foreign underwater photography, which always make people shine. I don't know that those beautiful and dreamy photos may have been taken all day, and only a few photos are satisfactory. I have tried underwater photography, which is not easy to understand. Besides worrying about whether the camera will soak in the water, I will also worry about whether I can take the photos I want in the water and what the light is. How to keep the model's body charm in the water? How to express the breath of water in clothing modeling?

However, through the cooperation of the photography team, some difficulties seem to have been solved, although not as good as the manpower and material resources of foreign or professional teams. Foreign professional teams are really expensive, and even specially built a seamless swimming pool with lights on the shore and a stereo in the water. Models can also hear the photographer's guidance.

F2.8,1125s, ISO 800 (Nikon D700+AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED)

photographic equipment

First of all, you must buy a waterproof cover (I ordered it online on behalf of my friend). Waterproof covers for underwater photography abroad may even cost more than your body. From the standpoint of saving money and loving photography, of course, you can basically try it in the swimming pool or shallow sea with a pair of frog glasses and swimming trunks. Of course, if a friend who can dive is equipped with scuba diving shoes, the possibility of taking pictures is higher.

The advantage of swimming pool is that the water quality is cleaner, but the picture may be a bit monotonous, so you may need to prepare some props or costumes to show it. There are many impurities in the seawater near Taiwan Province Province, so we can't get a good result. Unless we want to go to Lan Yu, Penghu and other outer islands, of course, coral reefs and fish on the seabed can decorate the picture beautifully, and the buoyancy of seawater is greater, so we should pay more attention to safety when taking pictures.

Outdoor swimming pools are generally shallow in depth, but natural sunlight can form some beams with tiles in the pool as the background. Indoor swimming pool, I suggest you find a swimming pool that specializes in diving training. If the depth is enough, but the light is not enough, you may have to prepare your own lights for the swimming pool to stand by (note: the swimming pool taken this time is five meters deep and there are also shallow pools).

F2.8,1125s, ISO 1000 (Nikon D700+AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED)

Clothing and cosmetics

Elegant dresses or dresses, bright colors or monochrome systems such as black and white, will have different feelings, but because clothes will become heavy after absorbing water, they may affect the limbs or safety of the model (clothes will always sink if they are too heavy). In addition, the general makeup is likely to take off makeup after encountering water. Waterproof makeup is recommended to cooperate with stylists.

F2.8,1160s, ISO 1000 (Nikon D700+AF-S 35mm f/ 1.4G)

lighting equipment

Most of this shooting is also based on natural light. Although it is an indoor swimming pool, it is close to the window. It's sunny again, so you can shoot with natural light. The ISO value must be raised to 800 or even higher. In terms of aperture setting, F2.8 is used this time, which overcomes the problem of insufficient indoor light source. Friends in the same trade are more fully equipped, with light sets and light stands.

F2.8,1125s, ISO 1600 (Nikon D700+AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED)

Focus and suggest shots.

You can use single focus or center focus, because in the water, through the frog mirror, through the waterproof bag and the viewing window, the picture you see after several layers is actually a bit blurred, and you will float in the water, and its stability is more difficult to control, so you will sweat like playing a lot of basketball in a scene. The lens used this time is 35mm fixed focus, 24-70mm (I use Nikon D700), but if I want to take a full-body photo of the model, I must keep my distance from the model. I suggest that it is more convenient to bring one more 17-35mm.

F2.8,1125s, ISO 1000 (Nikon D700+AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED)

Stage attribute

Before this shoot, I discussed it with my shooting partner and model companion many times, and we also wanted to try the possibility of underwater with everyone's brainstorming, so we prepared a guitar, roses, sunflowers, lilies and silk to match the clothes. In addition, we also prepared a black background cloth and put it in a water pool five meters deep to create the effect of focusing in the water.

F2.8,1125s, ISO 1000 (Nikon D700+AF-S 35mm f/ 1.4G)

Model guidance

Of course, the model itself needs to have a certain degree of water, in addition to opening its eyes in the water, it is the display of the model's limbs. Our model: Cate can even dance gracefully in the water, which is absolutely one of the indispensable conditions for taking good photos. It is difficult to control facial expression and shutter because of slow physical activity in water. Sometimes, you will float in the water with a ferocious expression, including the photographer, so the shutter moment is hard to appear.

F2.8,1125s, ISO 1000 (Nikon D700+AF-S 24-70mm f/2.8G ED)

Post-production creativity

In post-production, you can actually add some interesting points, such as turning the picture upside down, or rotating the angle, just like the weightless environment in water, just like the following picture rotates 90 degrees to the left, and some photos rotate 180 degrees, which actually feels quite special (foreign photographers often try this), resulting in different visual effects. In addition, I also made an attempt myself, that is, I cut the two photos before and after, and then synthesized the effect similar to "mirror shooting", which increased some imagination space.

F2.8,1160s, ISO 1000 (Nikon D700+AF-S 35mm f/ 1.4G)