by Herb Gruenhagen, pool pictures by Sherri Behar.   5/97

To be good at anything…your mother was right, eating your vegetables and practicing your art…you will improve and learn.

Almost everyone has learned scuba diving in a pool. Why? Because it is a quiet, warm and controlled place where you can practice the technical skills needed to survive in the ocean.

The technical skills in photography is focus and exposure. There is an art element also associated with any kind of photography. This is called composition. Composition is the artistry in creating photographs, rather than just pictures.

The pool is a great place to practice focus and exposure: if you are;

(c)1997 Sherri Behar

• justing starting in underwater photograhy…WOW how exciting...
• want to test out some new equipment, like new lenses or strobes..
• want to test that new viewfinder for your wide-angle close-focus Nikonos
• want to find out where your strobe edges lie…
• are having problems in soft focus or out-of-focus images…
• want to try that 2:1 macro framer with the 35mm lens…
• if think you are having metering problems with your camera system…
• if you just want to test that new film… like the Kodak E100s..
• or you just have a crazy idea that you want to try out.

In order to make your pool practice a real learning experience, and you want to see immediately some real improvements in your photography, it is very important to follow a few rules:

1.Plan all 36 exposures before entering the pool. Use your dive slate like a check off list. Also, pick one skill to practice on.
2.Get your test roll processed the very next day. That immediate feedback is important for learning.
When you get your slides back, mark on EACH slides how each was taken and place each slide in a slide holder so that you can see all of them at a single glace over a light table.
If you have planned all your exposures, 3. then do not throw away any slides. All slides are now test exposures. Just because some slides maybe grossly over or under exposed, doesn’t mean you failed. It might mean that you found some limitation to your system that you need to make a note of. The purpose of pool practice is to find those limitations in either focus or exposure. Your ocean time is the time to perform, not to practice.

Using some specialized equipment in the pool helps. Jim Beyster has made a test grid sheet with measured squares and a focusing rod to measure distances. Using the test grid underwater will help you in determining focus and exposures. For example, how many squares will be in the image using a 28mm lens at 1 foot or 2 foot or at a 3 foot range? How much of the grid will be exposed if you point your strobe(s) at the center, at the middle or at the sides of the test grid? For macro work, bring with you some small and colorful toys. These can be placed on the bottom or suspended in mid water. Light each toy a little differently, and of course make a note on your dive slate for each frame exposed.

(c)1997 Sherri Behar

Practice, Practice, Practice. If you are one of those that are planning an expensive dive trip to PNG or explore the reefs in the Philippines, Indonesia, or Great Barrier Reef, and you find your golden leafy sea dragon to photograph, I hope you come home with an in-focus and properly exposed image to thrill and amaze us all.

References:Al Bruton’s article…. Discover Diving-September/October 1993 Everybody in the Pool.