Taking pitures in a submarine.

[seiswirth]

This fall my family and I will be going on a cruise to the Eastern Caribbean. One of our tours will be a ride on a sub.
Is there any tips I should know to take nice shots through the glass (portholes)?
I'm assuming I will have to focus manually but I was wondering if there were any more tips. Maybe adjust the white balance?

Thanks
Scott

[PhotosGuy]

If the light level is high inside the sub, you may need a rubber lens shade so you can press it against the port to cut inside reflections in the glass (which I'll bet that you'll have to clean first) ;)
I'm not sure how you could CustomWB from inside the sub. Maybe shoot up at the sky & use that?

[seiswirth]

If the light level is high inside the sub, you may need a rubber lens shade so you can press it against the port to cut inside reflections in the glass (which I'll bet that you'll have to clean first) ;)
I'm not sure how you could CustomWB from inside the sub. Maybe shoot up at the sky & use that?

Great ideas! I hadn't considered how many noses and dirty fingers probably have been pressed up to the window! I'll bring some wipes in a zip lock.

Are rubber lens shades common? I have only seen the hard plastic kind (but I'm still new to the hobbie).
Thanks

[PhotosGuy]

Are rubber lens shades common? Most cam shops have them for under $10.

[tupe]

We did a submarine ride at St. Thomas two years ago. It's a great trip, but our pictures from underwater were almost worthless. Almost none of the red light penetrates, and images were mainly blue. Our eyes adjusted, but not my camera, and so far I haven't found a way to get any of the great colors of the fish we saw from those captures.

[seiswirth]

St Thomas is where we plan to ride the sub also. Bummer about the lack of red light.
I wonder if you could use some kind of filter? If a filter exists that I could use, someone at this site knows about it.

[tupe]

Looks like you need a red or orange filter for blue water, from what I can find in the web.

[neil_r]

You will have trouble with the light, you lose colour with depth, red first then orange,yellow, green, blue.... you can work out the other two. The only way you can get real colour underwater is to take your own white light down with you, something you will find hard to do from a submarine.

[neil_r]

Tried to help in CS2 but not much success, sorry

http://photography-on-the.net/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=28635&stc=1&d=1126922740

http://www.neil-rice.com/gallery/pics/under-the-sea_1.jpg

You can see what white light can do here...

http://www.neil-rice.com/gallery/photo/large/velavaru_may_05_CRW_3825.jpg

http://www.neil-rice.com/gallery/photo/large/velavaru_may_05_CRW_3886.jpg

[scr7b]

I have a tip I'd like to share about submarine trips...

My wife and I had a trip in a submarine in Grand Cayman on our honeymoon in 1998. They take the passengers offshore in a boat to meet the sub and make the changeover between incoming and outgoing passengers. We floated around offshore for a few minutes, waiting for the submarine to surface. When it did, and we tied up alongside, there was one "tube" with a ladder to get inside. Everyone was pushing in to be among the first to get on, and I had a thought...

In the event of a problem, and they were evacuating the sub in a hurry, I would want to be seated nearest the exit. I said this to the wife, and we hung back so we could be last onboard. It turned out to be a great move, because we were seated at the front of the sub, right behind the driver. We could look right out the front window, which was like a huge circular goldfish bowl type of thing. We also had some spare seats to move around in, so we could have a look out of both sides of the sub.

In contrast, everyone else was crushed in together, with only a small side window to look out of, and only on one side. (They were sitting in 2 rows, back to back).

So... assuming you get the same type of sub, and I assume the entry/exit hatch will always be at the driver's end of the sub... make sure you're last in the queue to get on!