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IN THE FIELD Making waves Underwater wildlife photographer and filmmaker Elise Gibbins went on an incredible shoot in Raja Ampat – she reveals the kit she took along for the ride
L ocated at the heart of the Coral Triangle waters in Indonesia, Raja Ampat isn’t just a spectacularly beautiful archipelago, it’s also home to the greatest diversity of fish and coral on Earth. “It’s famous for being one of the last untouched places,” explains underwater filmmaker and photographer Elise Gibbins, who visited to capture the area’s breathtaking ecosystems. Pride of place in her kitbag was a Sony FX3 – one of the most affordable professional Sony cine cameras. With its 12.1-megapixel back-side illuminated full- frame sensor, the FX3 can shoot 120fps in 4K and 240fps in 1080p (Full HD), offering 15 stops of dynamic range, five-axis
SCHOOL OF THOUGHT Experimenting with light, Gibbins made sure to accentuate the beauty of marine life in motion
in-body image stabilisation as well as the ability to output a 16-bit Raw signal via HDMI. “To take full advantage of my Sony FX3 underwater, I have the Nauticam housing with a 230mm wide-angle dome port,” she shares. “I adapted this port with extensions to accommodate my Sony 16-35mm f/2.8 lens. The large-diameter dome helps me to get sharper images and less optical aberration. “I also use the Nauticam housing for my Atomos Ninja V monitor,” continues Gibbins, “which gives me a bigger screen with more flexibility for shooting. This monitor helps with access and visibility when I am shooting underwater, as I like
to get below or in line with my subject to get a great composition.”
Lighting the way Gibbins focused mainly on natural light, as a lot of the sites with coral restoration and schooling fish were shallow. “I mainly shot above a 10m depth. As I was using the sun as my key light, I kept my back to it and used the dancing rays to highlight the subjects in front of me,” she recalls.
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