Under the water

When super dad meets enthusiast photographer - then results are so beautiful!
Yes, our daughter is fully emerged into a synchronized swimming and she is enjoying that. And whole our family is living around it. Trainings three times a week, tests and shows over the weekends... We are synchro-positive, and we love it!



So, when Christmas show has been announced, I knew my opportunity awaits. After last years balcony shots (see here), I wanted get closer, MUCH CLOSER! With a waterproof camera case ready, I was a parent with an exclusive access to the best view in the whole pool. And girls and two boys were fantastic. We all enjoyed it so much! It was absolutely a different point of view. I had no idea, how does it look like under the water and what they actually do there to entertain us above the water! Needless to say, that it was so so worth it! Like, are you kidding me? How many times you can get a chance to photograph such an unusual event, from totally unusual place and angle? How many times you can do candle light portrait and be under the water!?


I was thrilled. And so much respectful to all swimmers after two hours in the pool ;) Thank you all around Synchro club, thank you Inna for allowing me to be part of it! And don't forget to watch the video at the bottom with the synchronized show - from above and below!
PS: And for all photo-geeks, technical details, EXIF and settings are below.


Keď skombinujete super otca s nadšeným fotografom, tak nádherné  výsledky sú zaručené!
Áno, naša dcéra prepadla synchronizovanému plávaniu a tak celá naša rodina tým žije. Tréningy trikrát do týždňa, testy a preteky a show cez víkendy... Sme proste synchro pozitívny a máme to tiež radi! 
A tak keď bola ohlásená Vianočná show, tak mi bolo jasné, že to je príležitosť pre mňa. Minulý rok som fotil z balkóna (viď tu), ale tentokrát som sa chcel dostať bližšie, OVEĽA BLIŽŠIE! A s vodeodolným púzdrom na foťák som bol rodič, ktorý mal exkluzívny prístup a najlepší výhľad na bazén. Dievčatá a chlapci boli proste úžasní, všetci sme si celú show fakt užili. Proste to bolo absolútne iný uhol pohľadu. Doteraz som nemal poňatia, ako to vyzerá pod vodou a čo tam vlastne dole robia, aby sme si to my mohli hore vychutnať! Nemusím asi ani vysvetľovať, že to stálo za to. Akože, robíte si srandu? Koľkokrát dostanete šancu nafotiť takú nezvyčajnú akciu a z totálne nezvyčajného miesta a uhla? A koľkokrát sa vám podarí fotiť portrét pri sviečke a zároveň byť pod vodou?!
Bol som úplne hin. A odteraz mám obrovský rešpekt pred všetkými synchro plavcami, po tom ako som strávil v bazéne len 2 hodiny ;) Ďakujem všetkým ľuďom zo Synchro klubu a najmä Inne, ze to, že mi dovolili zúčastniť sa show takýmto spôsobom. A nezabudnite si pozrieť video na konci príspevku so synchronizovanou show – z dola a z hora!
PS: Pre všetkých foto maniakov, technické detaily, EXIF a nastavenia sú nižšie.


What has to be done to push ONE girl above the water! What a masterpiece :)
Čo všetko je potrebné k tomu, aby sa JEDNO dievča vytlačilo nad vodu! Majstrovský kúsok.


So, gear and set up info: Waterproof camera case is missing in our photo gear collection, but I knew just the guy! My dear neighbor Yves has the case suited to his camera and was so kind to borrow it. While being NIKON DSLR shooter, I have utilized for this purpose mirrorless SONY Alfa 6000 with Meikon Waterproof Camera case and it was a pleasant experience, I have to say! My setting was simple, as I needed to capture as much action as possible, but the light was sooooo limited. So I went with Shutter priority mode with speeds 1/125-1/160 and automatic ISO set to maximum ISO 6400 (which were the most of the shots actually). This caused obviously a lot of noise, but taking the light conditions into a consideration, I have to say Lightroom did pretty good job to de-noise it. And all the rest of the noise has quite a charm for such a session. My white balance was set to special "Underwater Auto", which did decent job, but as I was shooting RAW, I converted all images to BW anyway. Any questions regarding setting? Happy to answer, just leave the comment below.


Čo sa týka výbavy a nastavenia. Vodeodolné púzdro nám v našej výbave chýba (zatiaľ), ale vedel som za kým ísť. Môj drahý sused Yves má púzdro na jeho foťák a bol taký láskavý a požičal mi ho. A aj keď som NIKON DSLR fotograf, v tomto prípade som používal bezzrkadlovku SONY Alfa 6000 spolu s Meikon vodotesnou sadou a musím povedať, že to to bolo príjemný zážitok. Nastavenie bolo pomerne jednoduché, keďže som chcel zachytiť čo najviac akcie ale svetla bolo pritom tak málo! Zvolil som teda režim priority rýchlosti uzávierky (S na väčšine foťákov, len Canon to volá Tv ;) s rýchlosťami medzi 1/125 až 1/160 a s automatickým ISO, nastaveným na maximum ISO 6400 (čo bolo použité vo väčšine prípadov). To mi samozrejme dodalo obrovské zašumenie, ale vzhľadom na dané svetelné podmienky musím teda povedať, že Lightroom odviedol celkom dobrý kus práce na odšumení.  Ten zvyšok šumu, ktorý ostal mi dokonca príde fajn a hodí sa k fotografiám a tejto príležitosti. Na nastavenie vyváženia bielej som zvolil špeciálny podvodný režim (Underwater auto!), ktorý fotil pomerne slušne. Ale keďže som mfotil do RAW, tak som aj tak nakoniec zábery previedol do čiernobielej. Máte nejaké dotazy ohľadom nastavenia? Rád odpoviem ak mi necháte dotaz v komentári.


Interesting fact: Not sure if you knew, but synchro swimmers are not allowed to touch the bottom of the pool. That's a big no-no! In this case pool is 3.5m (11.5ft) deep.
Vedeli ste že, synchro plavci majú zakázané sa dotknúť dna bazénu? To je veľký prehrešok!
Tento bazén bol hlboký 3,5m.





And best part was - of course - at the end. All lights were switched off and girls went to the pool with candles and it was - oh so special!!
Of course, now camera really had troubles to capture anything and I had to quickly extend my shutter speed to 1/30 - 1/80 sec to get at least some decent silhouettes. But to be honest, I have enjoyed it under the water so much anyway!


No a samozrejme to najlepšie na koniec. Všetky svetlá sa na plavárni zhasli a dievčatá nastúpili do bazéna s ozajstnými sviečkami – ach, to bolo tak krásne!!
Samozrejme, teraz už foťák naozaj nestíhal a musel som predĺžiť uzávierku na 1/30 - 1/80, aby som nafotil aspoň nejaké siluety. Ale aby som pravdu povedal, najlepším zážitkoom bola možnosť sa na nich len tak pozerať pod vodou.



Thank you all! 
Ďakujeme všetkým!


And here's promised video. A ešte sľúbené videjko.


12 comments:

  1. Thank you! You pictures are AMAZING :D!

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  2. Amazing!
    You must have been definitely the fist part of the performance with your (frog man) equipment! :D

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  3. I totally L*O*V*E it and RESPECT for you and especially for all girls!!!

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