Photo of the Week: May 07, 2012

Hi Gang!

This week’s POTW is an image of a spinner dolphin that I created in Hawaii. I selected this photograph for this week’s POTW for several reasons. First and foremost, I think that being in the water with spinner dolphins in clear Hawaiian water is as fun as anything I ever do. No doubt about it, they are spectacular animals, and because the water is usually very clear not only are we able to have good photographic opportunities, but we often get to see a lot of natural behavior.

The second reason I chose this spinner dolphin image for this week’s POTW is that it represents a category of pictures that is currently playing a big role in helping me make a personal decision about upgrading my camera system. I don’t have a way to know how many POTW readers are serious underwater photographers, but from the email I get, I know that some readers are dedicated underwater shooters. I realize this week’s article might be of more interest to serious shooters, but because so many new single lens reflex cameras are entering the market, I am thinking that my thoughts might be helpful to some POTW readers.

So here goes: I currently shoot with Nikon D300 cameras. The D300 is a very good camera and mine have served me well. But it does not shoot video, and there are some features on several just released and about to be released new cameras that I am interested in for the type of shooting I do. I could go into great detail about the types of shooting that interest me most, but rather than get bogged down in every detail, let me make the point that I regularly find myself in the water shooting relatively large, fast moving animals such as whales and dolphins.

As a rule I can’t light these subjects with a strobe. In the case of whales they are too big, and with dolphins, even if I can get close enough to light them with a strobe(s), they often swim so fast that they appear blurry in my photographs because of the limitations imposed on shutter speed while maintaining the ability for a strobe(s) to fire when the shutter is open. In other words, the synch (synchronization) speed of the camera is too slow.

Two other huge consideration for photographing fast moving subjects like dolphins are (1) a camera’s frame rate, and (2) how many frames the camera can record before it has to stop to download a few images so that I can shoot some more. This second feature is often referred to as the buffer, as in “how big is the buffer?” The reason the features are so important is that when photographing subjects like dolphins and whales our opportunities are often very short lived. In other words, things happen fast, and then your opportunity is no more. So, you have to be able to shoot while the shootin’ is good!

The more frames we can shoot in a second (the frame rate) the better our chances of taking advantage of a fleeting opportunity. It’s easy to write that a camera “shoots at an amazing 3 frames per second (fps)”, but 3 fps is painfully slow especially if you have ever used cameras that shoot between 6 and 11 fps. In addition, there is an enormous difference in a photographer’s ability to produce great images in short lived scenarios between a camera that can shoot 9 frames before it needs to stop and download and cameras that allow you to shoot 18 to 40 RAW images, or more, without any delays.

When working with spinners I have often shot 20 to 50 frames during a good, but short lived, pass. The more frames per second and the longer I can shoot without the camera suffering any delay (or buffering), the better my chances to get the shots I want. These factors don’t come into play nearly as much when shooting macro subjects or static wide-angle subjects like soft corals that aren’t going to swim away while a strobe(s) recycles before you can bang off the next shot in a series of shots.

The purpose of sharing my thoughts about these camera features with you are to help newer photographers and others that might be upgrading or purchasing new cameras to realize the importance of considering factors other than just how many megapixels a camera offers.

Clearly other factors such as the size and brightness of the viewfinder, the camera’s ability to produce high quality images that lack ruinous noise in low light levels, size, weight and cost considerations when making a personal decision. In my experience, I have found that sometimes less experienced photographers fail to appreciate a camera’s frame rate and buffering ability before purchasing a camera.

Because I am in the process of upgrading my own camera system I have been thinking about a lot of factors and images. And certainly, my images of spinner dolphins have been in the forefront of my mind as I considering upgrading my system because they remind me of some specific needs.

I hope you enjoy this week’s POTW image, and that you find my thoughts helpful.

See you next week,

Marty