50. Pre-composition in wreck interiors
The magical feeling of swimming through a wreck interior lit by mild light is well known to every wreck diving lover. While such experience has a strong impact on our senses, translating it into a corresponding photography message is way more difficult. Photographer needs to precisely develop emotional perception as well as pragmatic processing.
The photography always starts with the story. With most wrecks, however, the story is determined by the wreck itself and oftentimes the motif has been photographed hundreds of times. That said, our job is to capture the most attractive version of the story, which means perfecting the lighting, framing and other supporting elements and adding our own secret spice a top of it. If we fail to capture the perfection, there will be a better image telling the same story, and our image will immediately fall into the bin of mediocre random shots, no matter how good our seasoning is.
My tips to go around well:
- Investigate on the internet: Most well known wrecks and their interiors are already popular objects for photography. Make your research in order to have clear initial idea about the subject, composition, lighting conditions and other important factors. I do not recommend to copy other photographers’ ideas, however checking other images can provide you with a good starting point for the initial frame and allows you to be more creative and effective in details. At the end of the day, our story is the same, but the precision in execution makes the difference!
- Make a plan: You know your frame and you know the complement to the general story. The better the implementation plan you make, the better the result will be. Plan the entire scenario down to the last detail, define and address all roles to divers involved in the process. In particular, providing detailed model instructions tends to make a big difference in the final result.
- Clear communication signals: Setting up clear communication tools is crucial for successful implementation. Without clear signals, even the best laid plans go awry. If you use video lights, you need to turn them down before giving signals, otherwise your model is blinded and not able to react. Use flashlight to give signals in dark spaces. We tend to position our models against the light and although we can see them clearly, often they cannot see us.
- The wide-angle vision: To generate interesting ideas we need to gain a certain level of “wide angle vision”. Human eye has a 60 degree central 3D vision and wider peripheral vision. It’s the peripheral vision which helps us, photographers, perceive the scene similarly to what our wide angle lens sees. Development of “wide angle vision” takes time to learn, but initially you can try a simple recipe - Look center, lookleft, look to the right and create a “panorama snap” in your mind. This view would be a lot closer to actual image than the center vision of your eyes.
- Adjustment: Now our creativity comes into play. Even the best scenarios usually have room for improvement. The best photographers are able to judge the result and make adjustments in real time. In our case, this means continuing to execute as planned until the point where you start to see new ideas and different perspectives. Pay attention to them and follow your instinct! Keep your eyes open.
- The right gear: When it comes to choosing the right lens, wreck interiors are a little tricky subjects. In many cases, the barrel distortion caused by a fisheye lens can be distracting, therefor I recommend using a super-wide prime lens instead. My favorite choice is the Canon RF 10-20/F4 combined with the full frame Canon R5, but any DSLR combined with an ultra-wide zoom would work well.
- Ambient light: Last, but not least I emphasize the importance of ambient light. You should always counterbalance the artificial light introduced by the strobes or still lights with the right amount of ambient. Not only it gives your photo a proper depth and 3D effect, but once again, it is the balance between the ambient and artificial light that gives signature to your image!
Wreck of Karavella
Canon R5
Seacam housing, Seacam 9” Superdome
Canon RF 14-35/F4 mm @14mm
Settings: F/5.6, 1/30s, ISO 1250
2 x Subtronic Pro160 @ 1/16 power on board + 1 x Suptronic Pro160 @ 1/2 power off board
Location: Gozo
October 2021
