Asian Diver and Scuba Diver Issue 01-2020 (117) | Page 4

ADVERTORIAL
Plunging into Blackwater
By: William Tan
The latest craze to hit the diving community has
to be blackwater photography. However, blackwater
photography is not for everyone. It involves diving
at night in the open sea, as well as searching for
and photographing alien-like planktonic larvae
or pelagic adults of strange sea creatures not
commonly encountered in our normal recreational
diving activities. These pose extreme challenges
not only to the underwater photographer’s buoyancy
control, but also his equipment’s ability to get
focus accurately on a tiny subject, sometimes
transparent and also fast moving.
For the purpose of easier focusing, most
photographers resort to using a shorter 60mm
macro lens for blackwater photography. But with my
Canon EOS-1D X Mark II and Canon EOS 5D Mark IV
bodies, both with super fast and accurate autofocus,
I don’t find myself at a disadvantage when using the
longer Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM as
my lens of choice. In fact, when coupled with
appropriate diopters underwater, I get a perfect
working distance to shoot even tinier subjects,
sometimes down to 2mm in size.
During a blackwater dive, you will be moving in
midwater, as will your subject, and the current will
Probably my very first blackwater dive done in South Maldives, and the sea was
full of mating pygmy squids. Canon EOS-1D X Mark II, f/11, 1/250s, ISO 200
also be moving both you and your subject – probably
at different speeds due to the significant difference
in size. It is extremely helpful to set your camera
to AI Servo AF. With this setting, your camera
will automatically track and continuously readjust
focusing distance when you or your subject moves.
When a subject is relatively large, I use Single-point
AF, or even single-point Spot AF to accurately
set focus on its eye. When a subject is tiny,
moves erratically, and is extremely difficult to
keep within a single focusing point, I choose AF
Point Expansion. This setting consists of nine
focusing points “fusing together” to become one
large single focusing area, making it easier to keep
the subject within the now “larger” focusing zone.
“But where exactly is the focusing point?” you
may ask. For a subject this tiny, your depth-of-field
should be sufficient to keep the entire animal
in focus.
Depending on the camera model, I set my shutter
to the recommended fastest speed to sync with
external strobes.
Contrary to popular belief, professional
underwater photographers rarely use apertures of
f/22 or smaller when shooting. Without doubt, this
Larval Phoronid. Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, f/16, 1/200s, ISO 100