Over and under: homage to Doubilet

Dominick Tyler - George fishing

I can vividly remember the first time I saw David Doubilet's photography in National Geographic Magazine, they were obviously images made by a great photographer who happened to be underwater as opposed to images made by a great diver who happened to have an underwater camera. Rather than accepting the limitations of working submerged, Doubilet always seems to push the boundaries to tell fascinating, beautiful, visual stories.

I don't know if he was the first person to do an "over and under" shot, where the surface of the water splits the image, but he has certainly perfected the technique over the years. I have certainly NOT perfected the technique, but on a recent commission for the Guardian Weekend Magazine I had a pretty good shot at it. Part of the secret is in the kit, you have to use an underwater housing with a domed port, the bigger the better, so that there is a reasonable distance from the waterline to the lens. The water needs to be very calm, because the peaks and troughs of even small waves will make the water-line obscure most of the image, and also clear, to minimize the difference in exposure above and below the water. Lastly you need something to photograph: Doubilet has photographed all the world's oceans and most of the species of fish and mammals in them, I have photographed a mackerel. I did grill and eat it on the beach later though, and you can't do that with a whale shark, or can you?

Comments

[Christian Petersen]

Many thanks for the camera kit details. There are great reviews for Powershot 95 on DP Review website and user reviews on Amazon. I see Canon are launching its successor the Powershot 100 on 1st Jan 2011. 12Mp with 24-120 F2 lens and £50 off at Amazon. Thanks to your website I have decided to downsize from a Nikon D80 to the Powershot. I hope I can get used to not having an optical viewfinder!
C.