Even more underwater photographs with the Canon G9

Some more underwater pics from the G9. Let me know what you think by clicking on the word 'comment' below to ... comment.

Image that typified house reef diving, with snorkelers always looking with interest at what we were doing. Shutter speed 1/500. Ap 4.0 ISO 100. Really like the pic. It would be a nicer image if the water around the diver was empty of other bods but was caught be the silhouette of the diver. I'll try and organise something next time to get the look.

This little fish a couple of centimetres long was beavering around the reef so I used macro. Couldn't get him to stay still long enough to get him completely in focus, but still like it. 1/500; 3.8; 100; flash on

Better version than one in earlier post. Got the vibrant yellow of the fish to help it stand out from dull background. Composition still needs some work though. 1/320; 2.8, 200

After seeing David Doublilet's book Fishface with lots of extreme close-ups of fish I thought I'd give it a go. Had to crop a little. 1/320; 4.5; 400. Think I knocked the ISO setting on camera or left it on high value afte another shot and didn't realise, hence the grain. Another important lesson.

Shot of me courtesy of my wife using our old IXUS 500 in full auto by manual white balance. Like the silhouette. Hell I like it that there is a pic of me for a change.

Amazing coral pinnacle but without wide angle I was some way off when I took pic so it has had some post pic work on it. 1/40; 2.8; 200.

Amazing to see two morays but didn't really grasp the opportunity as we were surrounded by a giant wall of glass fish (see further on down) so just knocked off a couple of frames. Missed opportunity. Too much red in image.

Coral grouper.

Part of the wall of glass fish snaking around a coral pinnacle. Amazing spectacle. See earlier post from December with some video of it. 1/60; 3.2; 100. Same setting for shot below. Cropped a little. Probably needed to shoot with quicker shutter speed because the fish aren't pin sharp.

My blue water shot. 1/250; 4.0; 100; flash on. Liked the atmosphere with the sun rays. Just needed something to swim in front of the camera.

Really liked this one of Alison. Poor composition meant I cropped off a bit of her fin. 1/500; 2.8; 400. Same problem as another shot. Camera set up for something else and forgot to return i to normal settings before the opportunity presented itself.

Simple reef shot that when I came to edit my images cropped quite nicely with the three fish next to the soft coral. 1/125; 4.0; 400.

There you go, hope you like. Not great but a whole lot better than my first underwater stuff. I'm possibly fiddling too much with the settings and need to find the smaller number of best settings and then just tweak them accordng to the situation.

Feel free to comment, criticise, rip them to pieces by clicking below.

More underwater photographs using Canon G9

Following an earlier post re using the manual functions of the Canon G9 to take underwater pics below are a few more examples from a recent trip to the Red Sea.

Probably should have included some of the other tries to see where things have been improved - but then I would have needed a massive memory card.

I used custom white balance on all of them, taking a reading from the palm of my hand or the sand, except where flash was used.

So in no particular order here goes.......

Napoleon Wrasse. Quite shallow at about ten metres which is why some of the colours still remain. Shutter speed 1/60. Ap 2.8. ISO 200

Red Sea Bannerfish. Got the right angle, to get some blue between fish and reef. Looked better on the camera screen and not quite sharp enough when downloaded. Shutter speed 1/80 Ap 4.0. ISO 80. With my new wide angle lens I will be able to get closer and still keep the ref in shot and get the image sharper.

Blue spotted ray shutter speed 1/60, aperture 2.8. No flash. I've had to crop a little to get more of a focus on the eyes, and it shows. Lesson learned: get closer next time.

Giant moray, about 8-10m down. Had a bit of time with him. 1/80; 3.5; 200. Flash on hence colour in his face. Debating whether red needs to be toned down a bit.

One of my faves from the holiday because of the composition and atmosphere despite it being quite grainy. No wide angle lens (soon to be rectified) so shot from some distance away. For some reason, the shutter speed wasn't quite right 1/500 so the ISO was high at 400. An opportunity that I didn't want to miss but lesson learned: have my camera settings ready.

A reasonable one of an anemone fish and the little friends. Shutter 1/60 (probably needs to be faster with these tricky little buggers) and aperture 3.8. Flash was on.


Too washed-out to be really good, but I liked the blue water (almost like a painting) and the two fish in shot. 1/125; 4.0; 100

Lionfish. Just couldn't get low enough angle in the water to put a bit of blue between fish and reef. Ap 2.8, shutter speed 1/30. Maybe that is why water has a purple hue. Found an article giving some hints and tips about shooting good blue water. If it's any good I'll let you know. Reef in bottom left corner also a distraction.

Tried b&w with the remnants of the Yolanda wreck because a lack of w/a meant I was someway off the reef. Can't say I'm too excited. 1/60 and 3.5.


Another Moray. Full on face at about 6m. Flash on, hence the colour. 1/60; 2.8; 80

Let me know what you think, and I'll post a few more tomorrow.

New underwater pics

After a few dives in Dosthill trying to get to grips with the settings on my Canon G9 I tried my luck during a trip to Egypt.




I'll post a few of the underwater pics here. Let me know what you think and any suggetions on how I can improve.








Also check out my surface interval on facebook for some more of the images or zip through the slideshow opposite.




While they're not great by any stretch, they are certainly leaps and bounds beyond my first efforts a fewyears back.
Then my pics were just different shades of blue with tiny specs of grey that were fish. Honest!

Underwater photographs using Canon G9's full manual settings

Okay, before I start, I acknowledge that these are in no way shape or form fantastic underwater images. They are not even good if I am completely honest.

But, they do represent a start for me in getting to grips with my Canon G9's manual settings while scuba diving and a better understanding of some basic principles.

First, and perhaps most importantly, lets get the setting right. These were taken in Dosthill in about 3m worth of viz. I've not really tested myself with adjusting the manual settings (shutter speed, aperture, ISO) before so everything was a learning curve of trial and error. Also nothing image-wise was planned, three of us jumped in armed with cameras and started blasting away. And these are a few of my efforts.

Practical things I've learned:

Challenging oneself with three independent functions while also scuba diving was a tad tricky and I would have been better off trialling one first but you don't learn until you give it a go.

You need a lot of patience to get things right.

Taking a white balance before each image is now second nature but I found a white slate left the colours looking a a bit harsh and found using the palm of the hand might be better.

The intensity of the built-in flash can be altered to make it softer or stronger. Don't forget that.

The two images of the perch who was happily hanging about the bottom of the buoyed line that drops onto the house are perfect demonstration of the wrong settings.

The fish didn't want to leave the safety of the line and, like a clown fish darted here and there every time the camera was pointed at him.

Unfortunately, catching him with a bit too much flash left left almost burnt out areas of white on his underbelly and near his mouth. Slightly less flash might have softened the images more.



As the next three images show, while white balance returned the right colours to the underwater realm, the poor viz meant there was still too little light to capture a crystal clear image, hence a bit of blurring as the fish darted around, caused by a shutter speed that was too slow.

Closing the shutter speed down, got a sharper image (below) but left the image darker than those above. A strobe which can be angled around the camera is a must.
I was surprised by how little backscatter was created by such a large unit used by my buddy by carefully angling it when taking different pics.

Dosthill itself is not short of atmosphere and the next two pics, of the buoyed line down to the old pump house and the reeds at two to three metres give two different natural-light perspectives to different parts of the quarry.

The reeds are where we find the population of pike. Below is a jack pike. Hopefully instinct will help me approach a scene with the right camera settings in mind but the best I could get here ended with the rear of the pike giving off too much white reflection and the blue background of the water becoming almost black because of such a short shutter speed.

As the next image shows, the G9 needs a wide angle lens. In poor viz situations the camera just cannot capture a wide enough shot of a diver behind the Parcelforce van. The G10 offered a wider image but a compact fitted with a wet wide angle really opened up the image a lot more.

So, nothing to worry Tom Peshak or David Doubilet but we've all got to start somewhere and despite the issues with each image, I've learned a few things and discovered that there is the possibility of getting decent images even in somewhere like Dostill Quarry.

Canon G9 Camera Underwater

While pulling together a slideshow of underwater images I got thinking about things have moved on since my first camera. As some of you may be looking to upgrade from your point and shoot, here's a review of the Canon G9 instructor Jason Clarke posted on the Dive Magazine website. The review won him a set of Poseiden regs (I have the same camera and wish I'd got a review in first)

PERFECT FOR THOSE WHO HAVE OUTGROWN THEIR COMPACT CAMERAS

Strengths: the option for full manual functions will give you greater control over how your photos turn out and RAW function allows for greater fiddling on a PC afterwards.

Weaknesses: Takes a bit of getting used to. Also the Canon housing doesn’t allow for wide angle or wet lenses to be attached. If that is your thing, you will need to purchase the more expensive Ikelite housing.

Overall: The advent of compact digital cameras and watertight housings has revolutionized underwater photography, giving us chance to share our experiences with people not yet converted to life with an aqualung.

Inevitably, there will be some of us who will outgrow our simple point-and-shoot models as we aspire to replicate the images of the likes of Alex Mustard or David Doubliet.
However, the thought of trying a digital SLR will leave a lot of us in dread. Too expensive, too fiddly and you’d need some sort of degree to learn how to use one, I thought.



But after much searching I’ve discovered the Canon G9 which I bought with a Canon WP-DC21 housing. It’s slightly bigger than your average compact but comes with a wealth of manual functions usually found only on SLR cameras, thus providing a perfect bridge between the two vastly different disciplines.
More experienced photographers can better explain the qualities of the camera so I’ll just stick with its underwater uses.The camera comes with all the gubbings you’d expect if buying one of its compact cousins (cables, software etc) and operates in exactly the same way.
However, turn the dial to full manual and it opens up a world of new things to try to improve your photos. Crucially, the camera gives you control of shutter speeds and aperture, two key elements in controlling the amount of light hitting the sensor and affecting how your pictures turn out.
On land, the functions are operated by a simple wheel with your thumb. Underwater, it involves pressing a couple of buttons. My advice, read the manual that comes with the Canon housing. Skip through any number of underwater photography forums and you will find countless divers have discounted the G9 because they didn’t think the manual functions would be available to them beneath the waves.
White balance and ISO control can also be controlled manually and there is a macro setting. There is also scope for a slave flash with the Canon housing.



The G9 also lets you shoot in RAW format, effectively a digital negative that has had no post-shot processing done by the camera and is perfect for those who link to tinker with their shots on a PC afterwards.
Getting good results with the G9’s manual functions does take a bit of work. A professional photographer friend recommended experimenting lots on land so they become second nature. But with digital, it doesn’t matter because it doesn’t cost you anything. Such is the quality of the camera, he even bought one as a back-up.
After eight months playing with the camera, my pics are slowly improving and I’ve discovered that, underwater, there are colours other than differing shades of blue.
Comparing shots I take now with my first scuba snaps and I’ve come on in leaps and bounds.And with automatic functions just a twist of the dial away, you can always use it like any other compact to make sure you don’t miss that (possibly) once-in-a-lifetime shot as I did when a whale shark swam past us in Sharm in June.
There is one major sticking point however. Due to the shape of the housing port it is not possible to attach wet lenses such as wide angle or macro. I only discovered this after buying the camera. It now means another £500-ish outlay for an Ikelite housing for when I want to make the next step forward.
That aside, this is a perfect camera for taking those baby steps towards publication-quality pics