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Th e B i g Fo u r
Figure 43.26 This small school of bat fish swam past me once on a particular beach dive at KBR, Sulawesi. I pointed my housing at arm’s length and pressed the shutter; there was no composition or selection of aperture or focusing – I had no time. With digital, I usually have my aperture at f11 at 1/180 s when swimming along between opportunities.This time I got lucky and it worked. I could not have hoped for a better formation and balance to the school. Remember the maxim: f11 at 1/180 s and be there! If you are not in the water, you will not get the shot.
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Some digital compact cameras still exhibit shutter lag, and panning can be essential in these circumstances The main reason is that fast shutter speeds result in frozen motion, and panning can often improve the artistic qualities of an image.
If the subject is moving towards or away from the camera, there is little movement across the viewfinder and as a result little or no blurring occurs. However, if the subject is moving at an angle across the viewfinder, the technique of panning should be used or else the subject will most likely be blurred. The best option in my opinion is to use a shutter speed of between 1/60 and 1/30 s and pan the camera. It creates a more realistic and natural appearance and an illusion of motion. Besides, it’s creative and can improve on an otherwise average photograph.
Lighting In my experience, one of the biggest problems to overcome is how to light such a large area in terms of both natural and flash lighting. Using natural light on wide-angle can be very effective with big schools of fish. If possible, try to shoot the school so that