Olowalu Sea Turtle Over Under Photography

  Continuing on my theme of wide angle underwater photography exploration around the island of Maui I enlisted the help of underwater model specialist Heidi as well as a few Hawaiian green sea turtles to add a little extra to these shots from Olowalu reef. The water cleared up nicely as we snorkeled offshore and the coral here is just incredible. I was hoping for flat calm conditions to try some over under shots with the camera lens half in the water and half out. This is a very delicate art form especially when you have some waves added to the mix.

I picked Olowalu for this because to make a good over/under picture you have to have interesting things both above and below the water. The reef is always amazing, especially if you have a turtle or snorkeler in the shot, and here at Olowalu the above water scenery is breathtaking. The west maui mountains loom in the background. They are nearly always covered in clouds. At over 5,500ft tall they create their own climate zone and have an annual rainfall of over 350inches of rain a year!

I would love to go back and try this again on a really flat day but some of the shots came out great and the challenge itself was very fun. It's always good to try to expand your capabilities and sometimes you just have to learn by doing.

natural colors of Olowalu

Heidi in a high contrast black and white shot

My underwater model pumped after a solid days work