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Underwater Photography

Well, let me show you a little movie. Underwater photography. This is a swimmer, Miss Hannah, and his is her entire session. That was entire session, okay? And you saw that was everything that we shot in his girl. So you saw that there was a lot of images done above the water, and then there was a lot of images done under the water. Now, she had an unusual number of images done under the water because she had, like, this outfit and that outfit, and she wanted her. She's on the swim team, so she wanted to swim team outfit. And she had this something This live loud thing. I think that has some sort of I'm not sure what that is that some sort of local logo thing that she's in. And so she wanted some stuff with that shit. Was your very specific with the hand gestures and all kinds of stuff that she wanted to do and the skateboard And, you know, all kinds of stuff that she wanted to do. So, you know, we did as much as possible underwater and stuff. Did you notice some of the crazy booth on ...

hairdos underneath? There man. There's no way of fixing that. Okay, I tried all kinds of crazy Photoshopped tricks to fix that, and there is no way to fix it. It's a problem with long haired girls. They get underneath the water and that hair starts a floating out there and it turns into a 19 eighties bouffant hairdo there. Okay, and there's nothing I can tell you how many underwater sessions I have done, where everything. I get the right face, the right eyes, delighting everything forwards and focus everything. And I got this crazy. Are hairdo going on and there's no way to fix any of this stuff. There's just no way to fix it. And I'll show you some of things that I have done in the past. It is not easy to do underwater photography. It is absolutely not easy. It is, on the other hand, mega fund. OK, you get in this, women pull your you're thinking of all kinds of crazy things that you can do. It is hunt and tons of fun. It does create an incredible buzz in the community because I mean, who does senior pictures underwater? You know? Well, I do. That's who okay, It does win a ton of awards if you're into the competing and, you know, image entry and that kind of stuff you enter, a image has done underwater, and it could be poorly done. And you get a you get a lot of boys for it. I tell you, it separates you from the competition is another benefit of it. It helps establish you as an innovator in your area. And there's some tax advantages. People ask me all the time. So, uh, Kirk, I guess you wrote off that pool. Well, I'm glad you asked. Okay. I did not write off my pool. I tried that. I asked my accountant guy with our could write off my pool and he said, No, you cannot write off your pool. However, if you put the pool in the backyard of the studio, you can write it off. I was like, No, I wanted at my house. He said, No, that's not gonna happen. He says, however, charge yourself to use it. I'm like, Oh, okay, that's legal. I like the sound of that. So every time I use the pool, I have to pay myself a fee. So actually the corporation charges curve Oak Lane to mean curve. Oak Lane charges the corporation to use the pool. And so I pay myself a feat. Yes, ma'am, charge. It depends on how much I charge myself. No, no, no. If a senior wants your model, do you include that in your location thing? It's so it adds $200 to the minimum water. So, like in the case she actually had, she had the loud thing she had. She had that dress thing. And so it didn't she had this one. So those three underwater outfits, right? And so that's 24 That's a $600 minimum order. This was three that's considered three location outfits that they just want to do. One outfit underwater. That's one location outfit. Now, if they do the model, the $2000 just does that include? They want. Yes, it absolutely would. Now there's certain times of the day. You cannot do underwater because of the fact that it is the angles of the sun. I can't do him in the morning. It has to be done in afternoon. The later the afternoon the better, because I get this nice shadow that comes across the pool that's caused by the house. That's why I don't know if you noticed it with some of her images that they looked kind of specially, you know, they look kind of like, I don't know, especially that's the word I can only come up with. Well, that was because I had hard sunlight. That was some of the first ones we did. And as the day got on and on and on and on, the sun started to drop. And I got that nice shadow across the pool. And when this slide comes up right here, the one right here of her swimming when I make it bigger here in a few seconds, you'll notice how good that one is. That is because that was the primo moment of the day. And I was saving for that. Get waiting for this moment of the day because I knew it was coming when the sun would get just this magic spot. And then I was like, OK, here's what I want Todo I want you to swim across the pool. You know, since you're a swimmer, show me. Show me swimming across the pool and we did the shot. Cool. Great powers for the pool. Imagine, in your case, you have a pool and you take a bunch of sessions that you already know that I imagine a couple photographers outside if they want to try as I want to try once, uh, there is better when the pool is in a plane side. That and nothing around. The sun's go from there to there. And I will choose a time, yes, or like I did. I have a friend that has ah, right side of his house here. The boys here and he has, Ah, kind of like, you know, that two floor house like the house creating shadow. Yes. So what time or what kind of situation of the sun and light should I use? The ultimate in my world is when I get an overcast sky, that's the ultimate. Okay, that is sort of similar. Assimilated simulated When I in the afternoon and I get a big shadow that's caused by the house that comes over the pool. So in your case, Yes, your friends, you good time. That would be the time on the shadows of the pool. So it creates this over cast or open shades scenario. Okay, You don't get all these weird speckles in the in the pool caused by the sun refracting in blinking all over the place. When the sun is hitting the pool, you get this. I don't know how to explain it, but you'll see it. It's little freaky shadows going on all over the place. The very, very first session I ever did Underwater was done at the why, and it was an indoor pool. But they had this big skylight over the top, and it was done with a canon food as the G nine. That was back when I had a G nine, which was an older point shoot G type camera. I don't know if you all caught me during the segment where we was doing the the pictures of them inside the studio segment on the backgrounds. I did this little quick thing with the G 12. Okay, well, it says that's what I bought the G. Siri's camera, actually, for I literally purchased it because I will wanted a vacation camera that would shoot in raw mode. And then I led to me some discovering that it did These little videos. So I started doing the little video clips with the thing, and then from there it led to Hey, wait a minute. Cannon makes a housing for this camera. And so I purchased it, and I started doing underwater photography with it. Just a little bit of a secret. If you do have a G Siri's camera and you do go by the housing that comes with this little piece of plastic that connects to the lens housing, and what that piece of plastic is far is when the flash comes on, it diffuses it diffuses the flash, and it creates a much more even lighting scenario where, if that diffusers not there when you take the picture, the lens causes a shadow from the flash over the subject, so make sure you have that little diffuser. A lot of people don't read that in the instruction manual. I happen to read it and read it, and then I did one with and one without, and it is brutally obvious why you they use that little diffuser, so that's just a little side note. But this is a way to get into the underwater world without spending a whole lot of money. Okay? Because like I said, Aggie, Siri's camera, you can pick one up. I don't know for $500 I think the housing is around the same amount of money. Something like that. While you're buying the housing, if you're going to go ahead and give this a try, Canon makes a set of what they call stabilizer weights, I believe is what they actually call it. And the stabilizer waits. Screw into the bottom of the housing and makes this camera buoyant, neutral buoyancy in the water. If you don't have the stabilizer, then what happens is the camera is constantly wanting to float up and you're fighting with the camera, so make sure you go ahead and buy a set of weights just by. It's not that expensive. Screw those on when you put the camera the water, like right here. It just sort of hovers right there. Even when you let it go, it tends to want to come up, but it ain't shooting to the top. Okay, that's one little secret. Another crazy secret that I had to learn the hard way when it comes to underwater photography is go to your dive shop and by a weight belt. Okay. And fill it up would lead the bigger your like me is gonna take a lot of weight. Okay? The small your, like Russell is going take a less weight. So let the dive people, you know they will give. They'll tell you exactly how much weight you gonna need. They're gonna want to know whether you're gonna be wearing a wetsuit and all that stuff, man. Okay, but put on a wig belt now for the whole Internet world, we're gonna have to have a disclaimer here. Don't try this at home, people. But be very careful with this because you are being weighted down in a pool underwater. I mean, don't panic. There is a all weight belts. Have a release to where? If you get into trouble, you just pull the release, it drops off of you and you float to the top. So just practice this before you find yourself in a in a panic situation, OK? You're gonna need a mask, Okay? Because when you're underwater, the reason the G Siri's is so wonderful is that use what you see. It has a preview on the back it like, lets you literally see what the camera seeing. So you have to worry about than eyepiece air guessing. You can see it. You floating underwater and you can see it. So that's another thing you're gonna have. You have to have some kind of a mask. Now. If you happen to be a certified scuba diver, then you can buy this thing. I actually bought it from scuba dot com. I think it's 300 bucks. It's this what they call like auxiliary breather. It's a little tank, but this big has little stage one and stage two built in, and you fill it from your main tank. It comes with the little Phil kit. You hook this thing on the Humane tank you connected on their U turn. It fills it up, Turn it off. You get 50 breaths, 50 breaths and the out. So that's what I take with me. I got my my weight belt again. The mask and I got my my auxiliary breather, and I go underwater, get 50 breaths, as usually, want only looking for. Like I said, two, maybe three shots and 50 breaths is all I need to get those two or three shots. The rest is done above the water. Okay. And that's the That's the trick. It's more about the experience than it is about the photography. Now, of course, along the lines, what you're going to see here is some pretty cool pictures, And you do he end up some pretty cool stuff. But you have way more control above the water. Then you do under the water. So let me let me kind of show you some of the stuff that I'm talking about. Like, for example, that this was actually done at one of my card jam workshops. Okay, They wanted me to do underwater stuff. So this was my senior from that year had come in. I have, like, probably 22 photographers all around me for this shot. This was at the pool, not my pool. This was done at the place I used to do work out. Obviously, I haven't been there a while. Anyway, this is the place. He's the workout and add a pool on the side and asked him, Could I use your pool? Yes, right here, right above her head. That's why it's shot this way. because right here was a bunch of kids. Okay? And the This what you see in her hair, All in here is the son of the camera. Said two plus three, the flashes on camera. Okay. And my tripod is in the water flashes at the plus three. Boom. And it lit evened out this. Look how flat this lighting is on her face. Nice if I but it's extremely dramatic, is it not? Yes, and literally. Here's what's happening with my camera. My camera is right here. I'm in the water, She's in the water, and the water is right here with the camera right there. And I have to be very careful that even if I did this, this camera is in the water right now. If I did this this side of the cameras in the water right now, so have to be very careful. Do not, and I'm literally just right. Yeah, that's how low to get that shot. You have to be right up against the water. 7200 lands. Pretty sure I was pretty close to 200 when I shot it. Flash on camera, click All of the dark edges and the walked out colors. Photoshopped Go ahead. You were DePetro priority. Yep. Same thing. Same metarie meeting. Just a flash. Now, instead, off my news 11 30 That plus three. Three. Now I have found that this particular flash, the 600 I don't know where there's more powerful or it's more efficient, But I don't have to go to plus three anymore. For some unknown reason, it seems toe plus to do it. This was back. And I think that the images in the world I don't know if I'm means understood you when we talk off line. So you used always use the just serious for all demons Or today you, you know, a cage for dessert. I'm getting I'm about to get to that. The G Siris was my way of getting into the business. Okay, so then I did just series have a flash already on that. So I just have to buy the cage and I'm set up. Yep. So I don't have because you remember You said something else. I don't use the G series camera anymore, but I can start with that. It's a great way to start doing underwater photography without having to break the bank. That seems to be a very popular question. Online over the last two days is, well, Kirk, I don't have this much money. How could I do it without spending that much money? Oh, well, I mean, I've been trying to come up with alternatives, like on the roof when I said, You know, you're sure you can buy the $2000 with the lighting equipment, but here's the alternative way of doing it. So there's multiple has always multiple ways to do in effect. So anyway, that's why I keep trying to do this one saying thing. Except the difference is there's a little shelf that when I had my pool built everything about my pool. The color of the plaster is 18% gray. Okay, it is not literally like some sort of Kodak plaster. Okay, But I told the guy I showed him a great card and I said, What are the odds of you getting plaster this color? He saw. That's great. Number 12 whatever it was, you know. And I said, Well, then that's what I want. That's the color plaster I want. So my plaster inside the pool, it's kind of a specially effect. It's when you look at my pool looks dark. It don't look like one of those bright blue pools. It looks like a dark blue, but that's because the plasters gray ah, lot of pools you go into is white plaster. The most common is white, and so when you the water filters through that, it's blue. But mine, like I said, is gray. So what that allows me to do underwater whenever it comes to color balancing is I click the wall because I know it's gray and boo. Everything comes into color, so it's gonna be is going to be kind of crazy. Most pools like a Sarah White, and you don't have so much trouble whenever you click the walls for colored color correcting. But there is absolutely no way to do underwater photography to me unless you shoot raw because you constantly have this big monster blue filter in front of your camera to correct that out in the just serious they should rock. Gee, sorry, shoots rock. That's another reason why I bought it. Yes, so, yeah, back to this image that you see on the screen right now. Um these All these images that I'm showing at this very moment time was done with one D x 720,600. Well, actually, I think this was done with the 5 80 x flash. I believe that was right before I got the 600. But it's the same principle done the way I showed you on the roof and a little bit of a reflector. In this case. I had Mom holding the reflector just like I showed you on the roof just a little while ago, where the reflector was not blocking that little bit of sheen of light hitting her in the hair, but it was blocking the light from coming straight down over her face. This is a little bit of a shelf that I had the guy who build my pool. I hadn't put this shelf in, and it kind of is about as big as this carpet right here, and you can lay on this shelf, and it's only this deep, like not even a foot. And so it's it's called if you have in a pool, made a tanning shelf, okay, and it's a way you can sit. There is just a way of like being shallow, and then from there it drops off my entire pool. Of its deepest point is six feet. That's it. It does not take much to do this. You can absolutely do this in four feet of water. Six feet makes a little bit cooler, though, and then a feat is too much because you gotta go so deep, you know, And there's flashing around six feet Max absolutely six feet max. Next, all of these are done literally underwater with the five D mark to 16 to 35 I s They are all done with the 5 80 x to flash in the Aqua Tech housing. Okay, now the Aqua Tech housing is expensive. I have no way of I have no nice way of putting it on and it's it's several $1000 but what it is is a housing that goes around the camera and makes it watertight. Now, the thing with Aqua Tech there is a bunch of companies out there that make housings for these digital SLR cameras like we have. Like, for example, another one is like a light, But those housings I delight housing is literally designed for underwater people. I mean, people who go 200 feet, you know, So it has to be beefed up a little bit more, whereas the aqua Tech housings, orm or designed for surf photographers. And it's on a photographer whose photographing surf stuff is not necessarily going deep underwater. So the aqua tech housing, I think, is rated for 15 feet. I think that's it. Just 15 feet. I go six tops. So I never really go really, really super deep. What attracted me to the Aqua Tech housing is the fact that what they reasoned is we want a housing that is like a bigger camera. Does that make sense? So if you normally click right here with your camera, will the button that clicks on the aqua tech housing is right here. If you normally do this toe to push some sort of button on the back of your camera toe, maybe view the image, will. That button is still there. If you if you push a button over here that does something like change the I s O or something like that, that button is still there. Also, all the buttons on the Aqua Tech housing are in the same place as your camera. It's just bigger. Does that make sense? So that's what attracted me to the Aqua Tech housing? Yes, sir. Okay. With the just serious, the image is showing right there. So you don't need to use your mask. Yes, Uh, you putting live you on your camera to do this? Yes. This is why the five d mark to now? I don't have a five D mark three. I'm pretty sure the five d mark three has it, but I don't know if you remember my equipment list prior to the one the X I was shooting with the one D mark three and the one day mark three s. Okay, Neither one of those has this live preview feature. One D X does now. Okay, But I don't know about you guys, but if I can go underwater with a $2000 camera as opposed to underwater with an $ camera, you see my reasoning here, So I mean, that's why the five d mark two is my underwater camera. Because it has live preview. It has a button that allows me win under what if I want to focus. I can see it happen on the screen. Push the button, BB. I'm unfocused. Pull the trigger. Can you give a chip like I don't think many people think about this question problem. But at least I never thought until a couple seconds ago we think. OK, when is a backdrop we think a lighting and go. I go a little higher than the more they want to make the mother Skinner there. Do you have any tips like, should I go below the model? Higher the mother Because I want that effect on the top. Do you have any tip about those And every a little bit the 16 to 35 lens When you buy the Aqua Tech housing you have to buy, the housing is a bunch of money. Then you have to buy a lens tube that screws onto the front of that housing. Just save yourself the house. So I bought several tubes and tested a bunch of them out because I didn't know which one I wanted Do. If you're gonna get this just by the one that you can stick the 16 to 35 in, it absolutely works the best because when you get underwater, there's a bit of a magnification change that happens. So 16 is not 16 anymore. It's a little bit more than it's a little bit magnified. Okay, so and 35 is a little bit more than 35. It might be getting pretty close to telephoto range past 50 and stuff like that because of the water, causing them a bit of a magnification thing. But what I always like is like the guy you see him on the screen right now with the horn. I am Yes, I am literally belly on on the ground on the bottom of the pool, slightly shooting up. So what you're seeing above him, you can see where the bubbles hit the surface of the water so you can sell that. Tell that he is probably what, two feet, maybe three feet from the top of the water. But then I have all the water, the reflection that comes across. But that was shot at 16 millimeters, which isn't 16 millimeters. But that's what it was shot at, and the the lenses physically on 16 millimeters and it's tipped far would cause I'm so low and you get that cool reflection going on. Okay, The the bubbles coming out of the front of the horn, OK is fake. I clone those bubbles over from bubbles that were in his mouth. So is to make it look like the horns blow. No, no, I mean, he just briefly, he was just like, yes, that entire image was done exactly like this. My thinking was I wanted him. I just wanted him toe to fall forward like this with the horn, By the way, it's a weird thing that happens. You get an instrument in the water like that, you never think of it. It becomes an anchor. I mean, it is heavy. It's just it's it's weird. But I wanted him just to fall farm and when he would fall far. But it just would cause him to get I know, out of balance and boom, that happened. And it was just like click. I loved it. And so are the same image. Like just to think it was a video. So the person is outside the pool waiting and he falls, you know, He was standing up six feet of water, not even six. He's already inside Yeah, he's in the bull. And I was over there, okay? And I was and I told him, I tell them Look, here's what's gonna happen. I get in the water and I get the thing mouthy. And I'm like When you see me wave like this, I want you to count to five and do what I told you. And in this case, what I want you to do is just hold your horn, put the t lips and fall forward like that. The waters like up to here just just drift down forward. And when he did it caught the weight of the hard, pulled him, and it caused his body to react like that, and he pulled up backwards and click. That's what happened. It was just I mean, in a like this sudden, magical plan that happened, it just happened. So what I do is I get right here, I'm looking at. It will be, I get my camera focus, I get everything and I give him the wave. And I'm counting to myself sinking to the bottom of my belly, hit the bottom. That was about five seconds. He proceeded to do the thing and I fart started firing down there and that's it. Click. That's how his quickest happened. The next guy that you see, he's a swimmer and I had him get down, you know, hold onto the edge, dude, get down low and then just push off and shoot up to the top and click. That's what I got there with the next one. Same thing with the guy with the speaker. I mean, the microphone, I said in the microphones, down in the water And it's heavy on the bottom. So it was something he could hold onto and pull himself down. And then I was like, Dude, I want you down there jamming. I mean, you're just rocking it out. You know, you're dancing on the stage, you just tearing it up and boom, that's the shot. A guy like that. So it's that kind of stuff. That's why it's so difficult. Because once I go under, there is no communication anymore. It all has to be pre set up, giving situations, getting the focus right, and then just hoping, hoping at that point, all of this stuff I told you about six shots and all that stuff that's out the window when you're doing this. All right, These do the one on the left, you can see the water and you see it at an angle. I simply tipped the camera pretty hard because I like the way her body was floating around there. And I like the way she was just barely touching the surface of the water. And so that was the effect. The one on the left that you're seeing on the screen now. All of the weird yellow flakes and all that stuff that you see in is a is a texture e I was walking through New Orleans one day and it was a piece of concrete. I took a picture of it and I liked it, and I use it. It just works for all my underwater stuff. Okay? And Michelle, I just laid the texture on top. Change the mode. I think the overlying seen here with the drop there with the green. No one here of the of the swimmer with the bubbles and all this other good stuff. It was like that. That was really that is the edge of my pool. And she pushed off ship. There was a lot of waves and moves a motion in the water and all of that that you're seeing. The only thing that happened in photo shop on this image is I saturated. The colors increased the amount of blue saturation, and I removed all of the pool elements. You know, like they got this thing that shoots water and and, you know, all those little things that happened inside of a pool. Well, there was some what we was showing. Like, I think there was one here and one here and one over here somewhere. I removed those things because it's ugly, You know? I don't want that for somebody. Look, abortion yet was saying like a rock. But that is all that speckle that you see in that image is caused by the grey plaster in my pool. Oh, and this this is the very 1st 1 No, this is the second image I ever did. Underwater Second damage evident on the water. She wanted to do something. She she said something about this dress. She's like, Oh, I got this outfit. I got this outfit and I got this outfit. Oh, of course I have my mermaid dress and Then I got this outfit and I got this outfit and I'm like, Whoa, back up! You got what? What? That dress. What? That's my mermaid dress like, What do you call it? Your mermaid dress? Well, everybody all my buddy, all my friends say it's like when you're wearing that, it's like it's like you look like a mermaid. It's like the way it fits me and stuff online. You know? I go do it underwater and she was like, um well, I would get, um I'm gonna get wet. I'm like, very wet voice. She was I huh? OK, yeah. Let let's go do it. And the You see the bubble, What looks like bubble wrap over her head. That's because it was winter time and it was the Ellen Dale's pool. You know, Ellendale, I'm sure Ellendale is the country club. I'm a member there, and it was winter time. They have a heated pool, and but they had already had it winterized and stuff. So they had it covered with this bubbly stuff to keep the heat in, and they kind of uncovered a section for us. And she was right on the edge of the section. So that's what that's how I sort of kept the son of her face. But then those bubbles were causing this crazy light that refracted through it. And that's why her face kind of has this sort of highlight and shadow weirdness going on. But yeah, that was all done. G 12 just And I took that to give you an idea of how good it looked when I was that Wait, I said G 12. I'm sorry. G 12 is what I have now. This was the G nine, so because this was what? Yeah, this is the second image I ever done is definitely G nine. Sorry. Sorry. Internet world. That is an error that is done with the Jeanine. Same thing. Something just better if I were them by now. Yeah, I think I think what? We have g 15 now, I think I don't know which g were up to, but whatever one days making right now, it's It's definitely better than this image was done. I don't know. I've never had anybody complain, so I don't know. I think it's kind of cool. Yeah, well, I took and I blew this. I blew this up to before it just to see how it would hold up. And while it did get a little bit weirded out on the edges and a little bit of grayness happening, it was very much respectable. Very much respectable. So and that was with a G nine. Okay, so the trick. Get it in focus, get the proper exposure. That kind of stuff is all. What adds to that underwater look. Cool. So questions anyone about underwater? I knew you would. Yeah, but you also knocked out a whole bunch of questions because it s so through. And when you explain things, that's awesome. All right, so if you can just reiterate for all of us out there So you shoot two different cameras in the water, you shoot your cannon d one above the water and then used the G 12 under the water. No, no, thanks for playing the G 12 g nine. Actually, the very first camera I used to get into the underwater business, you could say, And once I started making money with it, Then I bought the Aqua Tech housing, and now I shoot with the five D. Okay. And so it to me, it was dumb. It was absolutely just dumb to spend. I mean, it's a lot of money. I mean, think about with the five. These $2000 I think the architect housings 2500. I think the lens housing is $2000 to 16 35. That's $2000. The housing for the of the flash. I think it's 1500 or close to 2000. I mean, we're talking big money to be able to do that. And so, if how it would be so silly to skin that kind of money to just on a whim, you know, will it work? So do something else. I mean, Hey, I saw just recently a friend of mine had a Fuji makes it. I don't ask me the brand that I asked me the model, but I know the food. She makes the camera, and it's totally underwater. Has underwater capacity to I don't know. It seemed like it was 60 or 70 feet, and it does video. It is a little point and shoot camera, and it's ready to go underwater and have multiple colors, you know. And he did some images in my pool with it, and I was like, Whoa, that's pretty good. So that may be what you want to do and see, like it was left in $200. Okay, so that might be what you want to try. My point was, with all of that is there is a way to do it. T get the word out because the underwater image is not necessarily the important image. The important images are the ones that are all around the pool that you can do with your regular camera. Does that help? It does that perfectly explains it. Thank you for going more that one more time, and we have a follow up question. Do seniors by the underwater picture? If it's done well, I'll use the girl with the swimming where it's that last one was mostly talking about that, I said, I say that she was on the swim team and they were asked me says, Look, I was done in the ocean. She has a big months to image of that one as part of a cluster that she purchased and in my goodness it was some impressive when he came in is just fantastic. So it's for that reason that I went with the five D system because I'm working with a pool chip. You know, I get much better images, all that kinds of stuff. So that's why I went with it. Because I knew it would work. And I could, you know. So, yes, they do buy it if it's done well, all those other ones. You saw her slide show all those other ones. She I think she bought a while it or something or two. But now of some of them that would done above the water when she's laying in the water. She bought several of those. The one she was on the edge of the pool like this. She bought that one. The one where she was swimming. Like doing the butterfly stroke. She bought that one. So all those topside stuff. Oh, man, no cell. Really? Really, really. Well, the physical underwater ones. I'm gonna be brutally honest. They don't sell that great unless it happens to be this one of the dude with the horn. Oh, my goodness. The mom bought all kinds of awesome stuff, so it has to be sort of making my point about great photography is gotta be great if it ain't great. Did not bind it. But do they want it? Yes. It's all part of the experience. Right? Fantastic. Richard in Toronto is wondering how you communicate with your client while they're underwater. And let's see Pomeroy's studios follows up with How do you get them to open up their eyes? So very first picture. I know it's coming, but I let it happen because I know it's coming. I'll say, Okay, we're sitting in the water. Oops, sorry, audio guy. There we are. We sit in the water like this, and we're and I'm explaining to him how this is gonna work. And Okay, sugar, what we're gonna do is you're just gonna kind of sink down. Just stay looking at me and we're gonna take the picture. I'm gonna get down in the water. And when you see my hand above the water, I'm going to like this. You see? My hand wave? That's the signal for you to do what? I just told you to sink down. I go down into the water, BB my camera, get it focused, and I am ready. It's position the way I wanted it vertical. It's horizontal. Everything. Basically where I want to go. Give her the way she sinks down in the water. I pulled the trigger every time, every time, without exception. It looks like this every time, every time. And why is Because that's what you do when you go into what? Your holy breath and you squeeze Jai's and click, and then we come back up. And if I explain it to him, they never get it. I call that image up and I go, Okay? Come see. Let me show you something. Look. Okay. You see how you got your puffy cheeks all puffed out? I know that's what we normally do. When we go in the water, don't squeak up guys like that. In fact, here, I want you to do it. Now. I want you to me a little practice. Here's what you do. I want you to. It's weird. I know. But you only down there for about four seconds. I want you to breathe out and then sink And don't breathe in and then say because you're gonna belongs will be full air and float up to the top. So breathe out sink and take the picture. Keep my eyes open. And the 2nd 1 is always, always much better. And that's how it it's a trial and everything, and you have to go through it. Sorry. People talk about that. They're not okay on this case. Do you use any continue shooting or no? Is the one shot is like a short go back up chute. Most of the time, I get one shot before the subject is out of breath, needing to come up. And remember, I got that flash on my camera. So I tell him, when you see the flash, that's your signal that we're done. Come on. But now, sometimes I get the swimmer types who can go anything they like live, especially senior boys don't know what it is, but they can little. I have seen your boys Indian styles, cross leg. It's sitting on the bottom of the pool like that, and I could just live down there. I don't know how to do that. Didn't go down there 345 minutes. Sometimes something to do with body fat and all that stuff, right? But the girls always float, always float, and it's a constant struggle. They got the dress and they're fighting. And it's just a struck boys, on the other hand, is nothing. They just sink to the bottom. You do? The images were done, but yes, it is the single Most always you get one shot click every night, and I'll get the chance to pull the 2nd 1 but most of time. One shot. Cool. You got more over there. We re doing today. Do you have a lot more? Okay, let me pick one up. What about makeup in the pool? Um, story Don't know how to answer. I suggest that they were What approved makeup does not always happen. And when it doesn't is ugly. And when I tell him I'm like that blind, tell Jenna where when? You know waterproof makeup and they will win about food to do, go in my changing room and wipe it off that I mean, what else are we gonna do? And so, you know, it's one of those things. Yeah, the waterproof makeup works pretty cool, but now I'm easier. But it was mostly the eyeball stuff because all of powdery stuff that first down, it's going on, but I tell him that that you know, Don't not wear it because we're gonna do a lot of stuff above the water before we actually get in the water. Perfect. All right. Just going back to gear. Bryce Mansfield is wondering if you know you can rent the gear from borrow lenses or pro growth pro to go or anywhere else. Can you rent that equipment? And that's Bryce from Indiana. I think that's an excellent question. I just don't know the answer. I wouldn't be shocked if you can rent it. And it would be a fabulous way too Teoh to try it out. And there we go. I'm sure the Linz rental companies air watching now and scrambling to go buy equipment just as we speak the way you should talk to them. But I will tell you this that I'm sure it's gonna come with some kind of crazy disclaimer, you know, because it the deal with underwater photography is that it just takes one league and it's gone. It is absolutely gone. And so your best friend, if it all the scuba divers out there, they boom, they're going to know exactly what I'm talking about. Your best friend is o ring Greece. And it comes with all of these housings and such. And you have to be religious about grease in your rings. And I do every time. I agrees. Does this one over Ring Main o ring that goes that blocks. And if you don't keep that thing grease, you are gonna absolutely have a leak, and it takes one leak, and quite a few people are enquiring about. You need special insurance for pool photography for under. Well, because the equipment Yeah, I mean, for your equipment, maybe. I don't know. Are you talking about the liability with subjects? I don't actually talking about both. Both. I'm not sure how that works. I do have liability insurance on the pool is for Is my how home is concern? I do have liability insurance on my business. I mean, my both are insured by the same agent, so I have to assume they understand that that that's possibly could happen. I do have a really, really good insurance, though, and so I don't think I have a problem with that. And so I just I think I think that's a question for your insurance agent. not me. Excellent. Excellent advice there, Kirk. All right, Quite a few questions going back. Teoh Gear Guest 12 232 And it is not part of wondering if you use auto focus when shooting underwater, back book, back button focus or regular eye on when you go to on the G. When you go with the five d Mark two and you go into a live preview mode, there's a special button that you have to press. If you wanted to focus, okay, and so you get down underneath the water and I pushed that button and I get a little Diddy. I get a little blinky thing that tells me it is now in focus, and then you can take the picture. What? You could take a picture before. It's just going out of focus, and that is a constant problem that is a constant, constant, Constant problem with the underwater is because the subject is floating toward you and floating away from you and again. That's part of the help, if you will, with the 16 to 35 lens is that it allows you because I'm shooting at 16 millimeters, you get a great a depth of field, and so you can kind of be off focus and still be in focus. So, you know, follow. You got a question about that? Until now. I was I think again, like you thought. What? What? They're the settings on the camera for their, like you put it like F or show this speech underwater. My objective is to not think so. Absolutely a boy. I'm gonna make all the underwater people crazy right now, but I have it on auto. I s O. I literally put it in pif, a professional getting p program mode, meaning that the camera is going to choose both the f stop and the shutter speed for me and I have it on, you know, closest thing. The auto focus is that button that I have to press to get it to auto focus, and then the flash. I have that set e t T l and I still set the flash to minus one and 1/3 just like I do on topside. Water topside, shooting. If you put the flash on one. No one on full, it's too much. You get this, you get this flashy effect and That's not what I'm looking for. I put it still minus one in the third. Sometimes I have to go to minus two because I'm still getting too much of a flashy effect underwater. But again, this is with the five D system. But I do not want to think at all when I'm underwater. So for that reason, I am auto, everything except everything except for the color. I am not on auto white balance because it's just gonna be blue anyway. So I just again I said it to 5400 Calvin, that will have a good, clean starting point, a shooting raw, and then I color correct out all that blue. I'm still kind of new to studio lighting came clean to me, the F stops on your back lights and of how they work with their camera. Because I understand that stops on the camera. But I'm not fully comprehending the F stops on the backlight are or ah, main light. I just kind of do it himself, right. I just kind of go until it starts looking pretty, right. Okay, well, the main light is that FAA. So in other words, if I took a meter. If I would have taken a meter today, which I did yesterday to set everything up. So I knew everything was gonna be in with settings. A lot of stuff. So I don't think I'm just some sort of magical genius out there. Who knew that the boom, the camera just turn it on and it works? No, I did all these settings yesterday, so I had everything set up last night. What I do If if the subject was standing here in the main light which was over here, if I would have taken a meter and fired it, Poof. I've got F eight on that on the poof. The meter would said F eight the flat, the field lights that were going up against the wall. Poof! When I fire that, I got five, okay? The huh? Because I want this and shadow. Okay? I want shadow on my meter. Reading in the shadows was that five My meter reading on the hot side was that fate Ah shooted at f eight and I get perfect exposure. I get the highlights and I get shadows. Nice transition of life makes sense. OK, now the skip light or the one that was rimming out the subject behind him. That was about 56 And you may be thinking he said what? Why a 56? Why not? FAA? Okay, well, it's this photographer rule that if the light is coming toward you, 5.6 is gonna photograph like F eight. If the light is going away from you, then it's gonna need to be F eight. That makes sense, right? So anyway, with the light coming at the subject is the main line was here to me, and then this gets get light was here. Skipping off the face was like skipping Iraq towards you, right? And so, by shooting it at 5.6, I get this nice, properly exposed rim light on the subject. Cool. Did help you a little bit. Okay. Go home and try to play with it. Just just he's thinking okay. I have, like, a five studio lights, plus a ring W's maturing. But when I When I start preparing my lights, what order should I go ago Should for like, the way I should put the few lights first and then they ring like back. And then when I aim my f eight Because that lights will be changing If I if I select my f eight first and then I put the 56 there. That 562 If my age is going to change my exposure No, again, I want highlight. And I want shadow. Uh, okay, highlight. That means a little bit overexposed and shadow under exposed. Okay, So by putting, first of all, I start with the feel like the feel like gives me a five of 5.6 on the subject, Okay? At 55.6 right here, then the main light throws F eight. So I've got the F five and the FAA what I'm getting at. But I shoot at F eight. So that gives me highlight where the highlights hitting and that gives me shadow where the highlights not hitting makes sense. You Then everything else is added in. So if I have a background light, I have a background have skipped light, have skipped light. If I have whatever else you know, other lights along the way. I had all that stuff in. But that way the big deal domain, the big, big light, the ones you're most concerned with Philae. First main light, then you had all the stuff around in the culture of focus. Did you do manual where you did auto focus, folks? Okay, just because you put the dot on the I d I that's what I do. OK, Okay. All right. How about one more question before the final review? All right, cool. So infinity Lens Studios asked today, Do you have the seniors parents sign waivers? And also other people were wondering about having the seniors signed model releases. Okay, remember, we sort of talked about it yesterday. That I do proofs, okay. And because I do proves they have to come in at some point in time and check the proofs out of the studio. Right? So as part of the check out the proofs out of the studio process, they have to sign that they're going to be either buying the proofs or they're gonna be bringing the proves back. And there's a big old date as the win. All of this needs to happen by on that thing that they signed their side. There's a check box on, if you don't mind. Kirk, use any of these pictures in his advertising are in marketing or anything like that. Please check. Here. Do I understand that copying photography is illegal? And it would be cost me $1.295 million if I do. Okay. I'm kidding about that. It just explains copyright, explains this and have to check off all these different things that say, I understand that. And I understand this and they sign it dated and boom. So it handles all those things at that moment in time when they're checking the proves out of the studio. So let me let me just scratching way did underwater blink okay? And imposing with props, I was figured I talk about this just for a couple of minutes before we went into a bit of a review. Anything like I said can be a prop. I have been known to take stools. Okay. Lay him on the ground, for example. Have the senior lay across the floor, put their feet up on the stool. It's things like that. I've been known to have seen your guys sit on a stool, lean in like this and do a shot that's like that, or leaning like this and do a shot. That's something like that. These lockers here, Incredible. By the way, I expect that at my studio by the weekend. You can do leaning honey in between it. You could separate him a little bit. You could do some stuff in between it. You could actually open the thing up. And if the person is the right size, you could do something with them leaning all inside the thing, peeking around the corner, sitting on the side, all kinds of crazy things you could do. So if you keep your eyes and your brain open to props, you can incorporate the posing and the prop together to create an interesting look. So I figured I would mention that before did the old scratch off opposing with props.