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Jett Britnell Photographics

Category Photography Tips

Photography Tips

Underwater Photography Quotes

Jett & Kathryn Britnell Posted onApril 19, 2018April 10, 2019 Comments are off
jett britnell early 80s e1524184435458

Wisdom From The Depths

Here are some of our favorite underwater photography quotes about the art of making underwater pictures from some acknowledged masters of their craft.

“Just pushing a button is taking a photo. Thinking, lighting, and lots of other things~
that’s making a photo.” – David Doubilet

“You must be a fish among fishes to study their surroundings and their life.” – Hans & Lotte Hass

“Amateurs talk about equipment. Professionals talk about photos.” – Unknown

“Our goal is to capture seldom-seen behavior on film. And the trick to that is to simply spend huge amounts of time underwater.” – Howard & Michelle Hall

“The other blokes spent their money on girls and cars and beer. I spent my money on cameras and lenses.” – Ron & Valerie Taylor

“The true hero of the digital age is the instant image review possible with the LCD screen.The LCD screen allows photographers to correct and perfect their technique underwater. I am not convinced it helps composition, but it certainly improves the technical aspects of lighting. Put simply, there has never been a better education aid for underwater photographers to refine their technique.” – Dr. Alex Mustard

“The key to underwater photography is mixing light: ambient and strobe. Mixing it the way you want. This is art.” – Kurt Amsler

“Every day is not just another assignment; it is a small, but contained voyage of discovery.” – David Doubilet

“Getting close safely. I call it “Predictive Previsualization”. Seeing in your mind’s eye how the shot should look, setting all camera and strobe controls for what they should be when the shark gets close enough, and having the presence of mind to trip the shutter once the shark enters the shoot zone.” – Stephen Frink

“Spend your time studying the light, not the specifications of the latest camera!” – Dr. Alex Mustard

“There is a fine line between creating shadows and creating depth and perspective. If you are too uneven with your lighting you get harsh shadows that deteriorate the photo, unless you are using that as an effect.” – Espen Rekdal

“Go and play, set dives aside to be wild, free and silly. So much of what I have found that works has come from mad ideas!” – Martin Edge

“Photography is about how you look and how you dream and how you see and what your interests are.” – David Doubilet

“Just pay attention to the light wherever you are. Light is the basic of photography. In 1839, Daguerre and Niépce had to use light and we still use light. Even with digital, without light there is nothing. Once the photographer understands light, their pictures will look different.” – Kurt Amsler

“People don’t realize how important models are. Even in all the shots they are not in, they are looking for subjects while you are taking pictures.” – Carlos Villoch

“I really believe that creative lighting remains an area of great potential for expansion in underwater photography. If you want to differentiate you work and really make it stand out, there is a lot to do in this area.” – Dr. Alex Mustard

“I think diver pictures are the most boring and redundant photographs on the face of the earth. I hate to say it as I fear it might insult a lot of people. It’s just my personal feeling; what fascinates me about the ocean is the marine life, not divers.” – Chris Newbert

“Never underestimate your capacity for doing something really stupid.” – Howard & Michelle Hall

“Il faut aller voir (We must go and see).” – Jacques Cousteau

“Most photos are worth a thousand words.  Underwater ones are worth at least a million.” – Stephen Frink

Last, but not least

And lastly, a quote from renowned landscape photographer, Ansel Adams, that equally applies to the art of underwater photography…

“There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs.” – Ansel Adams

Photography Tips

Necessity Is The Mother Of Invention In Underwater Photography

Jett & Kathryn Britnell Posted onJuly 15, 2017March 24, 2019 Comments are off

Necessity Is The Mother of Invention

Once upon a time… while on a diving assignment in Vanuatu, I encountered several cuttlefish during a dive. Since my underwater camera housing was set up with a Nikon F3 body and a Nikon 55mm macro lens, conventional underwater photography thinking would dictate that wide-angle photography would be impossible with a macro lens. Such are the fundamental laws of underwater photography… one cannot change their lens underwater.

It was at that moment that a fellow underwater photographer set their aim upon taking a wide-angle picture of me with the cuttlefish in the foreground. In one of those ah ha, I think I can, moments, I focused on the cuttlefish using my macro lens. Miraculously, I was able to include my fellow diver in the background as I focused my lens on the cuttlefish. The results were pleasing and the magazines editor agreed and used that unlikely picture for the magazine cover shot!

Sometimes…in the mystical realm beyond the limitations of both one’s talent and their equipment… the diving gods simply seem to smile upon us.
Photography TipsDiving

Rare Photo Capture – Elegant Coastal Shrimp

Jett & Kathryn Britnell Posted onJune 1, 2016April 10, 2019 Comments are off
ELegant Coastal Shrimp
Elegant Coastal Shrimp

Rare Photo Capture

An elegant coastal shrimp. This was something we had never seen before on a sea pen. Intent on capturing a marine life photo that was something beyond the ordinary, I quickly focused my camera’s macro lens on the discover several elegant coastal shrimp’s (Heptacarpus decorus) shrimp’s bulbous eyes.

Negative Space

One key element in creating successful underwater photographs is to use negative space to artistic effect. Negative space is defined as being the area between and around objects in a photo that can help strengthen your composition and add extra emphasis to the main subject. Since elegant coastal shrimp have mostly translucent bodies, the orange sea pen’s colonies of polyp formations provided both a colorful backdrop and some superb negative space for my main subject.

Heptacarpus Decorus

Elegant coastal shrimp have a prominent hump on their back and are relatively small at 2.3 inches (6 cm) in length. Ranging from the Aleutian Islands, Alaska to California, they are but one of more than 85 shrimp species inhabiting British Columbia’s Emerald Sea. While most local shrimp species are easily recognized, you have to take a longer look to accurately identify the elegant coastal shrimp as they are sometimes mistakenly identified as being threespine costal shrimp.

Positively Elegant by Jett Britnell

Underwater Camera Settings

Photograph made in Queen Charlotte Strait’s famed Browning Passage, off the north coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, using a Nikon D200 digital camera in a Sealux underwater housing fitted with a Nikon 60mm macro lens and a single Sea & Sea YS-110a strobe. Exposure f/16 at 1/125th of a second at ISO 200.

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