Tag Archives: Underwater

Fairytale from Denmark

Denmark is famous as the land of fairy tales and castles – so when top Danish photographer Henrik Sørensen was asked to do the campaign shoot for the new Hasselblad H5D-40 he decided to mastermind a shoot with a difference and do a twisted take on Denmark as a fairytale country. Underwater.

From Henrik Sorensen’s YouTube Channel:

“He ended up with this submerged, slightly decadent fairy, floating gracefully in the 18th century palace setting.”

“With top of the league underwater model Kristina Korsholm, the beautiful costumes from Trash Couture, a huge backdrop of Ledreborg castle, and the best crew in town, all was in place for a great shoot when Henrik dived into the pool.”

“Watch the film and see one of the best underwater crews create these stunning and contemporary images, fine art or fashion? – entirely up to you.”

What a concept and result! Can’t really complain anymore about having to drag out a background, reflector and a light stand or two now can you?

Thanks to John Joe Joyce for pointing me to this one.

How I took that shot – by Anthony O’Connor

Anthony O’Connor’s stunning underwater shot of a diver is certainly one that most photographers won’t ever get a chance to take. Some would say it’s hard enough to take a good shot whilst on terra firma not to mention underwater where staying alive might be the top priority! Anthony tells the story of how it came about:

Ascent

“I took the image in August 2003 on a dive at the Bills Rock. The rock is located approximately 8 miles west of Achill Island and is regarded as one of the best dive sites on the Irish coast. It rises 40 metres above the water and below the water there is a vertical wall down to a depth of 50 metres, which is covered in marine life”.

“The image was taken on the ascent at a depth of about 10 metres in natural light”.

“The original shot was in colour but was very green. This is because colours are lost from the spectrum as you descend in water, i.e. red, orange and yellow all disappear beyond about 10 metres below the surface. Flash isn’t really an option unless the shot is close up or in crystal clear water, as flash light is reflected off suspended particles in the water causing specks in the image, known as backscatter”.

“I converted the image to black & white, adjusted the sharpness and contrast slightly and cropped it so that the anchor line was in the corner of the frame”.

Technical Details:
Camera: Canon Powershot A20 in a waterproof housing
Aperture: 2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/60

See more of Anthony’s images here.