Underwater photos taking in the Great barrier reef with the Olympus E-PL1, Olympus underwater housing, 14-42mm kit lens, ambient light – no strobes, red filter, jpeg mode. Color corrected using auto-level in Aperture. Photos by Gustavo Valladares, more photos on his flickr page. I think the photos look very nice, as expected based on the topside E-PL1 image tests.
Gustavo is new to underwater photography, and I think he made a good decision using natural light, since his dives were in shallow, well-lit water with good visibility. The white sand and rocks on the great barrier reef make using a strobe difficult for beginners, since they are so reflective they produce hot spots.
F6.3, 1/125th, ISO 200
F4.5, 1/60th, ISO 200
F5.6, 1/100th, ISO 200
F5.6, 1/100th, ISO 200
I have a few final comments. I feel that these photos look good and are a fair representation of what you can get underwater with the Olympus E-PL1 in natural light, in clear shallow water. Note that apertures used are around F5.6, so as you can tell these photos don’t have great depth of field. For 40% more depth of field, AV mode at F8 could have been used at ISO 400,.
I’m often hesitant to have people look at underwater photos when judging a camera, because 9.5 times out of 10 the photos speak more about the photographer, their ability to light, compose, or find subjects, and the conditions than the camera.
