Dive into split-level photography
with Jurgen Freund
text and photos
Jurgen Freund
For split-level photography, or half and half images, I use digital Nikon SLR cameras, with extreme wide-angle lenses ñ preferably full frame 10.5 mm or 16 mm fisheye lenses, which have an angle of 180 degrees. But sometimes when the fisheye angle is too wide, I use a super wide zoom lens with a split close-up lens. All this is mounted inside my trusty Seacam housing, using the superdome, which is a 240 mm part glass sphere. This gives me quite some air distance within the dome, which means as the dome is further away from the lens, the thinner the dividing line between water and air in the image. A bigger dome also makes it easier to shoot in rough conditions, as I experienced on one occasion - 25 knot winds in the Coral Sea, shooting a split-level of a scientist with a radio-tagged nautilus.
For my Seacam housing, I can choose different finders. I use both the S45ƒ and the S180ƒ Sportsfinders. Both have advantages depending on the situation. In very shallow waters, the 45ƒ finder is unbeatable. When drifting in deeper water, I use the 180ƒ straight finder. Since split-levels are shot at the water surface, there is not always a need for underwater strobes, especially at the height of noon. But strobes often come in handy when needing to illuminate harsh shadows. A shallow reef at sunset makes a nice split-level image, illuminating the corals underwater with one or two strobes. I generally pre-focus the lens manually, since auto-focus is often unreliable, especially when the ocean is a bit choppy. One big problem is water drops on the dome. So just save your saliva and use plenty of it on the dome. No more problems with ugly water drops.
