Photographer Captures Beautiful Split Photos Above and Below the Sea

David Doubilet, known as a pioneering underwater photographer, has released a photo book that spans decades of his work and shows the symbiosis of the mysterious underwater world and the more familiar surface captured together in a single image.

Doubilet is widely acclaimed as one of the world's leading underwater photographers and has been a regular contributor to National Geographic for decades. Today, Doubilet has revealed his "Two Worlds: Above and Below the Sea" photography book which encompasses decades of documenting the ocean and the still largely unexplored underwater world.

Doubilet discovered his passion for outdoor exploration during a summer camp as a kid when he was given a mask and sent under a dock to pick up sticks and "meet the dreaded giant dock spider as punishment" because he did not want to hike. Since that moment, he has been mesmerized with the life underwater and at the age of twelve, his father used an anesthesiologist bag to create an underwater camera housing for Doubilet's Brownie Hawkeye camera, giving him a taste for what's to come later in his career.

David Doubilet on assignment among icebergs Scoresby Sund Fjord Greenland

He published his first story during his teen years and went to collaborate with National Geographic in 1971. Five decades and 75 stories later, Doubilet still sees every dive as a discovery.

"I still search for the elusive half and half image and I continue to nudge photographic boundaries to see where we can make technological advances," he says.

The idea for his Two Worlds projects arose early on; Doubilet has always been fascinated with the surface of the sea "as a door to a hidden world", he tells PetaPixel.

"Fast forward to assignments in the remote corners of the world where I began to slow down and look as I descended. I saw corals sloping upwards to the surface meeting rainforests tumbling to the edge. I began lingering at the boundary of surface and sea, recognizing it as our largest most important border on the planet."

This is where the experiments of capturing half and half images in a single frame began. For Doubilet it is a thrill, knowing that a person on the surface has no idea of the fascinating and rich life that can be seen just beneath the water.

The project includes images taken throughout Doubilet's underwater career and spans Papua New Guinea to Grand Cayman Island, from the icy waters of the Antarctic Ocean to the tropical Great Barrier Reef. He has captured rare sea creatures, corals, plant life, and the unique underwater landscape -- all of which help highlight important climate change and marine life conservation issues.

Although an exciting experience, it can be labor-intensive to create images like these. Doubilet uses a variety of Nikon cameras in SEACAM underwater housings which are equipped with a range of wide-angle Nikkor lenses, behind a 9.5-inch optical glass super dome. The dome corrects the 33-percent underwater magnification and spreads the boundary layer of the surface across the curvature of the dome.

When Doubilet shoots, he has to kneel or stand very carefully; sometimes he even floats with the housing and dome half in and half out of the water. He lights the bottom half of the frame with two or more Sea and Sea YS 250 strobes.

The most challenging aspect of this type of work is finding two compelling subjects in a single frame to illustrate the essence of the place that Doubilet is shooting in.

"Although I am driven to look for two world moments on every dive, the images themselves remain rare," he explains. "In five decades and 75 stories as a National Geographic photographer, I have only produced a few dozen of these images that I truly like."

"The largest border that impacts every single person on this planet is not etched in ink, it is the surface of the ocean. It is a portal into that other 71-percent of our planet. No matter where we live, coastal or inland, we depend on the oceans to produce oxygen and resources that we rely on."

As challenging as underwater photography is, Doubilet doesn't plan on stopping and hopes that his project connects people to the sea. The newly published book is an invitation for the audience to enter into this world: "to see, know, explore, connect with, and protect the oceans."

Doubilet's "Two Worlds: Above and Below the Sea" book is available for $60 and can be found on the Phaidon website, with more of Doubilet's photographic work available on the Undersea Images website.

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Image credits: All images by David Doubilet and used with permission.

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Stunning Macro Photos Shot Within the Unique World of Vernal Pools

A conservation photographer has documented the unique biodiversity found in the vernal pools of Appalachia and has released a free e-book that shares the result of his years-long passion and provides tips to others who are curious about this type of photography.

Steven David Johnson is a Virginia-based conservation photographer and professor who has been published across multiple magainzes such as Nature Conservancy Magazine, Virginia Wildlife, Orion, and others. Johnson has a lifelong dedication to documenting the natural world and is the Vice President of the Virginia Wilderness Committee and an Affiliate of the International League of Conservation Photographers.

Growing up in rural western New York state, Johnson was surrounded by forests, ponds, and the Genesee River and as a result, newts, toads, and fireflies became a regular part of his childhood exploration. His early love for nature grew into the pursuit of an art major with a photo concentration in college and continued through a degree in digital media studies in grad school.

As an adult, Johnson moved to Virginia in 2005 and became a photography teacher at Eastern Mennonite University. He tells PetaPixel that nature photography became a way for him to understand and communicate about his new environment, most notable learning about the central and southern Appalachians, which provide biodiversity hotspots for salamanders -- with more than 50 species in Virginia alone. Johnson says that this fueled his macro photography skills as he learned to document salamanders, frogs, and other -- often hidden -- life forms in the forests. He eventually moved to underwater photography to capture complete life cycles.

The vernal pools of Appalachia -- which is the central stage for Johnson's photography work and the basis of his e-book -- are temporary bodies of water formed from seasonal rains and snowmelt. This environment is ideal for many egg-laying creatures and in late winter and early spring, these pools host breeding events for amphibians and macroinvertebrates.

"There’s a tiny world of beauty and complexity that deserves appreciation and protection," writes Johnson in his e-book.

Although documenting vernal pools life cycles is cyclical -- because the same events happen annually -- each year brings an additional layer of complexity, depth, and new discoveries about behavior.

"It's a dramatic cycle that takes place on a minute scale," explains Johnson.

Johnson's goal is not just to document biodiversity and behavior, but also to "help viewers to experience an emotional connection with the amazing creatures that live in vernal pools," which means getting close with a low perspective using macro and wide-angle lenses.

To capture the fascinating underwater world, Johnson uses two sets of cameras. The first one is Sony Alpha a6500 in a Fantasea underwater housing with Sea&Sea YS-01 strobes and Light and Motion Sola video lights. He uses either a Sony f/2.8 Macro lens or a Sony 16-50mm f/3.5-5.6 lens in conjunction with a Nauticam WWL-1 Wet Wide lens.

His other camera setup uses a Sony a7R III in a Seafrogs underwater housing with the same lighting tools along with either Sony FE 50mm F/2.8 Macro lens or a Venus Laowa 25mm f/2.8 2.5-5X Ultra-Macro lens.

Johnson switched to mirrorless cameras in recent years as he says that it is much easier to observe an LCD viewfinder than an optical one when the camera is submerged in water. Although, in deeper pools, it is sometimes necessary to position the camera a couple of feet below the surface, which makes viewing the LCD difficult. At times, Johnson also positions the camera and tries focusing without actually seeing the camera screen.

Shooting late at night -- during winter and early spring -- makes good lighting a necessity. The Sola underwater lights serve as general flashlights for his fieldwork and as focus lights. In addition, he uses one or two underwater strobes attached to an underwater housing for most of his vernal pool stills, although positioning them requires a lot of patience and experimentation.

"I’ll often experiment with lighting setups on action figures at home before heading out into the field," he says. "Yoda and Hammerhead are my standbys."

Although this is his personal choice of equipment, Johnson explains that shouldn't deter beginners. Shallow freshwater environment photography equipment can range from setups as simple as a waterproof phone to a full-blown underwater housing with attached strobes and video lights. Just using a smartphone can be enough for burgeoning photographers to try their hand at documenting underwater life, especially when choosing an app that allows manual focus and even underwater time-lapses. The ability to shoot video on smartphones can be helpful as are add-on lenses that allow macro or wide-angle photography below the surface.

As an experienced professional, Johnson is familiar with health and safety practices. For example, when he descends into deeper water with chest waders, he moves slowly and chooses his steps with care. In order to reduce the possible transmission of disease, he dips his wader boots into a mild bleach solution and scrubs off any mud before traveling between watersheds. Johnson also notes that he avoids using insect repellent because it can impact fragile freshwater environments.

Johnson also says that a reliable GPS is essential since this type of work requires shooting in the dark forests, as is an extra load of batteries for the equipment. To protect himself and his equipment in the case of rain, Johnson dresses in layers and brings a poncho and a camera bag cover. He also started wearing shoulder-length waterproof gloves to extend his working time seeing as early-season vernal pools can make fingers numb.

Regardless of the available equipment a photographer has access to -- whether it is a smartphone, a compact camera, a DSLR, or a mirrorless -- Johnson recommends simply starting by taking photos in their own backyard. Observing the living world that photographers have at their doorstep will provide a good entry to documenting it, such as "jumping spiders ambushing flies inside of flowers, spicebush caterpillars mimicking snakes, and green frogs competing for mates," and more.

In his free e-book, titled "Vernal Pools: Documenting Life in Temporary Ponds," Johnson provides a detailed insight not just into his own findings and the resulting imagery but also practical equipment suggestions, lighting strategies, and general tips on working with this type of environment.

More of Johnson's conservation photography can be viewed on his website and Instagram page.

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Image credits: All images by Steven David Johnson and used with permission.

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