The appeal of a special type of sailing photography, showing the action half above and half of the aquarium-green water below. How southern German water sports photographer Ulli Seer became inspired by George Greenoughs “Psychedelic Surf movies” of the Seventies and Berlin outdoor photographer Soeren Hese later carried on. Technical challenges and how they were mastered in analogue times and what is possible thanks to digital photography today. Finally, the question if it is more than an effect.

Sailing happens on the friction surface of wind and water. So conventional sailing photography shows this surface and the boats in the familiar above-water perspective with aesthetic, dramatic, high-contrast or atmospheric images.

Insights into demanding split-level photography

We are so familiar with classic sailing photography above the water that some professionals have taken a different approach, searching for new perspectives. This technically demanding perspective is called split-level photography. As the above photo by Soeren Hese shows, it offers an aquarium-like view of the sea. On a hot day with light winds, it is refreshing to look into the shimmering green water.

Inspired by surfer homages by David Elfick and George Greenough

To understand how this effect came about, it is worth remembering the great days of surfing. In 1970, “Deep Tube Riding. The Inner(lost) Limits of Pure Fun” was published, a homage to surfing still worth seeing today.

It celebrates the elemental power, magic, and beauty of surfing in the tube of endlessly breaking waves, sometimes in slow motion. In 1973, “Chrystal Voyager” followed, accompanied by “Echoes” by Pink Floyd, the last recording from their 1971 album “Meddle”. The ride through the tube of a breaking wave lasts seconds. The genre of the “psychedelic surfer film” celebrates and prolongs it. The title “innerlost” refers to the boundary-breaking experience.

The films also fascinated the southern German surf photographer Ulli Seer, who was working for magazines and companies at the time. He packed his Nikon F2 with a motor drive for film transport in a sturdy and heavy Plexiglas box. There were no controls. The camera had to be set up in advance. A remote control served as the shutter release. As Seer’s following windsurfing photos show, he managed to take some impressive shots.

He got a professional underwater housing from the American manufacturer Ikelite. It already had lens domes that could be swapped out to suit the lens used, as well as external controls for the shutter release and focus adjustment. In the mid-1980s, Seer found Sea-Tite in Sydney, a specialist workshop that built underwater equipment for the film industry. They supplied him with a so-called dome port. This made the desired separation between above and below water technically possible.

Using a half/half filter, he darkened the above-water area by two stops. To compensate for the stronger magnification factor underwater, Seer used a correction filter with 2 diopters for the underwater area. “In today’s digital age, this is no longer necessary because the greater depth of field, appropriately stopped down lenses and simple digital post-processing make it easy to compensate for the exposure differences between the above and below water areas,” explains Seer.

Later, Kurt Arrigo and Carlo Borlenghi used the split-level technique to photograph large sailing yachts in Mediterranean regattas. This was a much-noticed innovation in sailing photography in the early 2000s.

In 2014, Berlin-based outdoor, nature, and sailing photographer Soeren Hese began working with split-level photography. He reports that taking pictures with the lowered housing is difficult due to the lack of subject control. You cannot look through the viewfinder. The pictures are triggered blindly using a rod extension.

It took a while that Hese got a feel for the angle of aperture covered by the lens and also for the necessary timing of the shots. The best shots are taken with a diving housing in clear water. “In addition to the typical split-level shots showing the underwater hull, you can also capture reflections when there is no wind,” reports Hese.

In addition to the waterproof housing with a lens that is absolutely clean on the inside and drip-free on the outside, you need a willingness to experiment and some practice. Hese remembers taking around 5,000 shots with this technique in the 2015 season. The camera is held close to the water and lowered millimetre by millimetre during a series. A series consists of 10 to 20 images. “The image ideas can only be planned roughly. That’s why certain effects, especially those with water splashes, are difficult to reproduce,” reports Hese.

“The lighting conditions have to be right, and you have to get very close to the boat so that it is visible in full frame in the wide-angle photos. Occasionally, you are less than a meter away. This requires good coordination, a certain level of skill and also courage for the photo boat driver. Another limit is murky water. For the above shot of the underwater hull of the classic archipelago cruiser, 3 to 5 meters was the maximum, although it still looks good in the Baltic Sea. The Berlin lakes are usually too murky for such motifs,” reports Hese.

“You have to be able to set the focus point in the two different media of air and water, as well as how to use the lighting conditions and direction of the lighting. You have to know what you are doing, otherwise the ratio of usable images to waste is disproportionate,” explains Hese. All images are then thoroughly edited on the computer. Behind every photo session at a regatta are several days, sometimes a week, of subsequent image editing.

Half & half photography — fading effect or enriching

Does split-level sailing photography offer more than a temporary and quickly wearing-off effect? ​​As Seer’s photo of the Chiemsee dinghies in his home water shows, it can be a fondly remembered mood image with lasting appeal. It shows the atmosphere of a midsummer day when little is happening on and in the wonderfully green water. It shows this “nothing” roughly half-and-half in a memorable manner.

Here the mentioned surf films from 1970 and 1973, which led to Ulli Seer’s split-level photography. An insight into the parallel universe of “psychedelic surfing” and surfing as a purpose and way of life.

Also worth seeing is the spirit of departure into the freedom of a life close to nature with surfing, a special powerboat and a more suitable sailboat in “Chrystal Voyager”.

Photo on top by Soeren Hese: 15 sqm square metre boat “Oj-Oj” at the biannual Schlank & Rank Regatta. Credits to Ulli Seer and Soeren Hese: thanks for insights into their work and permission to publish their photos here.

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More on the topic: → Duck Perspective Photography, → Schlank & Rank Regatta Fehmarn