Tips for taking photographs underwater!

It is natural that scuba divers want to capture the impressive images of colorful coral, flighty fish and prodigious pelagics that occupy the world beneath the water’s surface. Who wouldn’t want to capture the moment when a massive whale shark or manta ray casually brushes against your body! Recently, the Black Pearl liveaboard came upon a school of mobula rays, the second biggest ray after the manta.

Although the fundamentals of photography remain the same underwater, the medium through which light travels shifts from air to water, meaning that special techniques and equipment must be used in order to capture that winning shot.

Underwater Photography Tips for Compact Cameras

Tip #1 – Do not utilize the digital zoom!

Tip #2 – If adding an external strobe that is optically fired, shroud the front of the housing with duct tape, directly in front of the internal flash. If this is not done, the internal flash with create backscatter. Tip: The underwater camera housing is a very important and essential piece of equipment. This is the one thing that will keep your underwater camera dry.

Tip #3 – Become familiar with the focusing distance of your camera in and out of macro mode. Utilize macro mode when you are within the macro focusing distance.

Tip #4 – When utilizing an external flash, place it as far away from your housing as possible and block your internal flash (to reduce backscatter).

Tip #5 – Use your dive light to help your camera autofocus.

Tip #6 – When you turn your flash off, set your camera to underwater mode or white-balance it manually.

Underwater Photography Tips for Compact Cameras and Internet Flash

Tip #7 – The lower the visibility, the closer to the subject you must be to avoid backscatter.

Tip #8 - For better colors, avoid using the flash when shooting more than 3 to 4 feet away.

Tip #9 – Use manual white balance mode when not using the flash.

Tip #10- Set white balance to auto when not using the flash.

Related posts:

1. Caves and over-hangs: Great place for macro photography.
2. Underwater Ironing
3. A quite day underwater.