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Articles – Page 2 – Irawan's blog

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Split Level (Over-Under) Water Photography

Not only because I myself enjoy scuba diving and snorkeling, I like to explore any photography styles related to what I enjoy doing. Split Level Underwater photography is one of them. It’s also known as ‘over-under’ or ‘split-shots’ an amazing technique to take an underwater photo but include what’s above the water as well. So its a half way split between water and the air.

They often are taken with wide angle or fisheye lenses with big dome port to capture both sides. To be able to capture both side clearly it’s better to use small aperture for the clear focus and best shot in a shallow and calm water. This technique could be tricky as the air and water has different index of refraction. To understand the science deeper, here’s the tutorial on how to do it by Jonathan Bird.

Here are some amazing samples of Split Level or Over-Under photography, David Doubilet is one of the most outsanding underwater photographers with this technique:

David Doubilet | Southern Stingrays Grand Caymand Island

David Doubilet

David Doubilet

Tim Grollimund

Meanwhile in the Philippines

Octopus, Italy | Pasquale Vassallo

Lionsman Jelly by Native Marine

Kona Village Resort, Big Island, United States

Mahout Elephant Underwater – Best photos National Geographic August 2010 – Cesare Naldi

Baby green sea turtle French Polynesia – by David Doubilet

Photo by Kelly Broaken

Bunaken, Sulawesi, Indonesia – photographer unknown

Shawn Jackson

And here are some of the big buggers to shoot it with :

David Doubilet on assignment Grand Cayman Island

Dome Port

Ikelite dive housing

Big 8 inch Dome Port Ikelite

And I have to share this interview of David Doubilet going through one by one of his best shots at the The World We Explore- David Doubilet Zeitgeist Americas 2012. And yes, he mentioned Raja Ampat of West Papua is like a dream place and I wish I will be able to go there someday:

March 17, 2013
Outex

If you like to take adventure photography and think that GoPro or other action cameras can not do enough but don’t want to spend more than what your DSLR camera cost for underwater housing, Outex is the answer. It may sounds like a birth control product brand and works almost the same but it’s the coolest DSLR camera gear to protect the camera from water, mud, snow or dust in reasonably affordable price :)). It envelops any major DSLR and lenses brand like Canon, Nikon, Pentax, Sony, Sigma, Tamron etc. To do a split level water photography will be very handy if you have the right lenses and Outex set for that as an alternative to expensive camera housing.

Although you can use Outex for underwater photography up to 10m deep, it is not designed for scuba diving as its not supporting the pressure. And to be able to use it underwater, it has to be installed properly. When you purchase from their website, it will be directed to which camera and lenses are you using so it will fit them properly. It’s an exciting new gear for adventure photography.

Here are some photos of this Outex from many sources:

Outex

Outex underwater

Outex

Outex Split Level Photography

March 14, 2013
Bullet time effect – Still cameras array – Time slice

I first thought about bullet time camera effect when watching Red Hot Chilli Peppers live at Slane when Kiedis jumped and the camera panned from one side to other. I could never think about the logic how the hell they do it with only one camera or software effects. The camera panning must be super fast to create that sort of motion, I thougth. Then I found out that Bullet time camera effect is what they used, its a scene created when a frozen motion is panned using gazillion of camera set up around the object.

Here are some example of amazing examples beside the most famous one, Matrix movie bullet time scene and they are not the first time to use this technique:

Time-Slice Films Demo Reel 2009 (Featured above)

The Gadget Show – Bullet Time / Time Slice Shot – Suzi Perry

Really Bend it Like Backham

The 30 GoPro Bullet Time Rig – K.Flay Music Video Mini-Doc

LA Times: Explained

Rip Curl: and behind the scene

Time Slice with Wuon Gean Ho

A Moment In Time

On Smash Live – Behind The Scenes – GoPro Array Drum Shoot

My GoPro Array

My GoPro Array from Marc Donahue on Vimeo.

So You Think You Can Dance – Time-Slice Moments

Legendary surf photog Larry Haynes films GoPro athlete @alanaRblanchard with the GoPro array

Larry Haynes and @alanaRblanchard

February 4, 2013
Reverse Lens Macro Photography

Doing macro photography could be very fun as you can create a photo that your eyes won’t see in everyday life or bare eyes. It requires a special lens to capture a tiny object as a close up in details. But I just learned recently that you can do a macro photography without special pricy lenses and get a way around it. One of my photographer friends mentioned to me the other week that we can do a macro photography with a reversed lens. I was not sure what he meant at that time but he said it’s literally just reversing your lens back to front.

Not going to elaborate the science of how the reverse lens work but its pretty cool (you can see the science here: https://stephenelliot.com/2007/05/15/reverse-lens-macro-photography-tutorial/). You can just hold your lens back to front against the camera or buy a special reverse lens mount.

So then I did an experiment on it and the result is surprised me, better than I thought. This experiment I used a standard cheap lens kit EFS 18-55mm, I don’t have any insect or something more exciting to capture so I just took whatever I have in the office :

This is how I did it without reverse lens mount

Experiment I:

Gargamel | Normal lens at focal length 55mm maximum closest Gargamel | Same lens setting but reversed and closed up

Experiment II:

Watch | Normal setting 55mm Watch | Reverse Lens

March 25, 2012