Best Of Both Worlds

[HarryHerb]

I'd like some advice. I've been trying, without much success so far, to get one of those under / over water shots, with some nice fishies in the sea, plus the beautiful island in the background (the perfect southern Thai picture!). I've seen printed versions of this kind of thing, often with divers or snorkellers in the bottom half, and am assuming it was not all Photoshop.

I am guessing you need a fairly wide angle lens to get both the underwater (close up) and far away island in focus. I am getting only one or the other in focus at the moment, perhaps this is the failing of my camera - a digital Panasonic FZ-20? I have some manual controls (aperture and shutter speed) on this - is there any particular setting I should use that would help?

Also any tips on how to deal with the "wave problem", which not only knocks the camera about a bit but means the line between 'above' and 'below' is almost never straight? Is there any extra equipment you think I should have ? (currently have only camera and housing, which also, incidentally, means I often get random water droplets appearing in the 'above' half...)

Perhaps I am attempting the impossible - if this is the case, then please set me straight . If not, I'd like to hear your thoughts, even theoretically speaking, as to how this could be done.

Thanks!

[Chang_paarp]

You are looking at very different light levels above and below the water.

Some people use filters or in the days before photoshop they sandwiched 2 transperancies (slides) to get the effect.

One way to get the effect and not be troubled by the waves is to select your site well. Shallow, few waves. Encourage the fish with something to eat, just out of shot.

[HarryHerb]

Closer to the shore - doh! Yes, now it seems obvious. I was going quite far out (to get more of the island in the frame), which results in more contrast (deeper water is darker, obviously) and more camera shake - treading water with a housing is not exactly easy...

So I should stay in the shallows, with props like fish food. Thanks for the advice Chang_paarp, I will try this out next time I'm there and maybe post the efforts if it works out .

[Element]

The pictures you see as examples are also made with a big underwater housing with a big wide-angle dome on it. That's also why the waterline is less visible as it's a smaller part on the outside lens. I tried it with a Sea&Sea MX10 a couple of years ago, and it looked allright, but it also had a small frontlens. What they also use sometimes is a filter above the waterline to compensate for the magnifying effect under water. If you'd have a model standing in the water, you'd see enormous feet under water otherwise.

[astral]

If you'd have a model standing in the water, you'd see enormous feet under water otherwise.

Would you be looking at her feet?