Over/Under photos.

Hi there! I'm new to the underwater photography world and I'm having an issue when doing over/under images.

This is what I'm shooting with:

- Ikelite 6812.7 without any extension (do not know the dome model number)
- Nikon D700 FX Body
- Nikkor AF 24mm f/2.8D

My issue is that even when shooting at small apertures (f/9, f/11) I can't get both sides to be in focus. Is either the over water part in focus or the under the water part, but not both.

I see pictures like this all the time:

However, the pictures I can only achieve are like this:

1/320 - f/9 - ISO 100 - 24mm FX

Can anyone tell me what am I doing wrong?

Should I buy a bigger dome?
I appreciate any response since I'm driving myself crazy! Thanks for your time!!

PS: These are some pictures of the housing I have:

Ikelite 6812.7

Ikelite 6812.7 with dome

Per Ikelite port chart for FL system, your lens needs 5510.45 dome with 5510.16 extension. I'm not very familiar with Ikelite systems, so I can't readily identify which dome it is that you're using, but it's definitely not 5510.45.

You might also want to consider using a fisheye lens instead, as they have much greater depth of field and thus are more conducive to over/under split images.

What is the diameter of the dome in cm or inches (but this is not really the crucial aspect)?

I would recommend to close aperture to a least f 13 and to focus on the UW part instead on over water...

See here for more and better help:

https://www.uwphotographyguide.com/over-under-split-photography
https://www.ikelite.com/blogs/advanced-techniques/how-to-shoot-split-shots-half-in-half-out-of-the-water
https://www.backscatter.com/reviews/post/Underwater-Split-Photography-Tips-A-View-Of-Two-Worlds
https://www.divephotoguide.com/underwater-photography-techniques/article/over-unders

Wolfgang

Thank you Barmaglot_07!!!
I appreciate your fast reply. I will be looking into that ASAP.

I've tried this a number of times, and mostly failed miserably.   Without some sort of float on the housing, my rig (30+ pounds dry) is simply too massive to hold half out of the water.   My attempts mostly involve a bit of momentum and total luck.

Here was my first attempt, at the end of a dive when I simply shoved the camera up and hit the shutter release.  Not much under.

Here is a better result on another attempt.  I took several images as I was ascending, with this being the last one.

I once tried to practice over-unders in a shallow area next to my dive resort.  Figured if I was standing on the bottom I could simply hold the camera as needed.

The reality was that it was almost as hard to stand up with fins on with all that weight and a bit of current as shoving the rig out of the water.  I got nothing from the attempt as I fell over repeatedly.   Sigh.

My advice:  get some sort of float for the camera

I sure hope to get better results than these images using my GoPro and a Telesin GoPro Dome.

It should be far far easier with such a small rig and naturally deep depth of field.