Back in the water

I haven't had the opportunity to do underwater photos since early September, 2010. Summer is usually short enough in Seattle, but this year it started later than ever. So I was really happy to have things lined up to have a pool, nice weather, and models all available on the same day.

Underwater photography can be a lot of fun. It can also be nerve-wracking. If you spend any time around water, you know that the question isn't "IF" your case will leak, but rather "WHEN." Luckily I haven't experienced a leak yet, but two of my friends have had water get into their cameras. Luckily for both, they were quick to pull the battery out and dry it out and their cameras came back to life after a few days.

Underwater is also 60% skill and 40% luck. Especially in my early days when I was using a Canon S70 and a Canon G10 in underwater housings (OK, maybe it was 80% luck back then!). Shutter delay on land is one thing, but it seems to be even longer underwater. So I never quite knew what I was going to get. You see your model swimming towards you, you press the button, and you wait. And you wait. And you wait. Sometimes your model is still in the frame when the shutter finally fires. You can find some images from the G10 in an earlier blog post.

Last year I upgraded to an Ewa-Marine underwater "bag" for my dSLR camera. Things are much easier. But it does take a bit of experimentation to get the right balance of weights and air in the bag. I like to have it so that the camera will sink. Too much air in the bag and you are always fighting to keep the camera underwater. I sometimes also wear a set of wrist and/or ankle weights to help keep myself under water while photographing.

Here are some photos from Sunday's sessions. All were processed in Adobe Lightroom. The real tricky part is getting a good white balance. As you get more than a foot or two underwater you really lose most red light and things go a sickly greenish/blue. The originals out of the camera can be dis-heartening to look at. This is one place where I really don't think you can do JPG and fix in post. Raw is the way to go for underwater unless your camera has a specific underwater white balance setting.

Thanks, Aerial Nurse!! More photos to come...

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All above photos created with a Canon 5DmkII, 16-35mm f/2.8L lens, and Ewa Marine UB-100 underwater bag. Natural sunlight filtered through a diffusion sheet above the pool.

Photo below is from my friend Hyejin Yun.

I call it "One of these is not like the others."

Bambi Cantrell Workshops

I first met Bambi Cantrell at JVH's 2009 Digital Festival in Bellevue, WA. She was a guest speaker and I was very impressed with her attitude, knowledge, and teaching style. I knew then that I needed to take a workshop with her. I just had to figure out the time to do it. Come November 2010 and I noticed that Bambi and Scott Bourne were teaming up to offer a Boudoir and Figure workshop at Scott's new project studio in Las Vegas (Henderson) the week after WPPI. The price was good (plus, I got an early bird discount) and the timing worked out.

Little did I know at the time, but Creative Live was also in the process of hiring Bambi to do a 3-day free online workshop in Seattle for which I will be assisting. Sometimes all the cards fall into place. The workshop will take place online March 18-20, 2011. Click on the Creative Live link above for more information about all their upcoming free online workshops (Vincent Laforet, Jasmine Star, Mark Wallace, Rick Sammon, Zack Arias, and more coming up this year).

Anyway, back to the workshop. It took place this past weekend and I had a blast. Bambi and Scott were very hands-on in the workshop, side by side with all the students (limited to 6, so everyone had good access to the instructors). Bambi has a very energetic style. Watch the Seattle workshop to see what I mean. Scott gave great technical and business guidance. It was a great team. They were always there next to you offering critique, encouragement, guidance, etc.

I try to go to a few workshops every year, but lately I've been getting to the point of wondering if they really help. I can tell you that this was one workshop where I never questioned why I was there during the entire session. I highly recommend that you keep an eye on Scott's Workshop page to see if another Scott/Bambi workshop comes up. Bambi also lists her workshops on her site.

Without any more rambling, here are some of my images from the weekend. More can be seen at http://johncornicello.com/vegas.

Underwater Figure Photography

Underwater Figure Photography gallery slide show.



Mouse over the slide show to go full screen or to visit the gallery.

Thanks for taking a look!

Unclad Art Show

I'm going to be part of the Unclad Art show in March in Stanwood, WA (USA).

More information is available at uncladart.com
Samples of all the art are now online at http://www.uncladart.com/view-the-art/

I will be showing two pieces (Trio and Hula) shown below. I will also have a variety of greeting cards on sale in the show's gift shop.


Hope you can stop by and see the show!