There are certain photographs that, when we look at them, make us think, “How did they do that?” Then there are others which, though they may be relatively simple at a glance, were surprisingly difficult to achieve. In his “Fake a Big Shot” video series, Kai Man Wong explores what goes into impressive photographs, and attempts to imitate them as a learning exercise:
In this episode, Wong is given the challenge of recreating a striking underwater shot of a diver taken by Chase Jarvis. He succeeds in finding a diver and a pool, but soon learns of two factors which will make the challenge more difficult: first, Jarvis took the original shot with the top-of-the-line Hasselblad H3D, while Wong will be recreating it using the more consumer-friendly GoPro Hero 3. Second, Jarvis’ shot was taken from a room with a glass view into the pool, whereas the only way for Wong to get the same effect under the circumstances is to actually be underwater.
Despite these hurdles, Wong managed to get a great-looking similar shot of his own.
On the right is Jarvis’ original shot, while Wong’s version is on the left.
There are a few key things to keep in mind when attempting to take a photograph like this:
[via PictureCorrect Photography Tips]