Taking Underwater Photos - The Basics
The Basics
Before you bother with anything anything more specific about diving with a camera, you should learn the basic rules for taking photos underwater. These rules are not unique to any particular camera of course but they must be learned. Every website, book and conversation on the subject explains these rules but no one seems to learn until they've produced a bunch of bad photos. Before you do anything else to improve your photos, tattoo these basic rules to the back of your hand and refer to them often. No camera currently available can produce good photos if you don't follow the basic rules.
1. Get close:
Hands down, the most common mistake made by new underwater photographers is shooting from too far away. Light going through water loses its colors which is why all beginners (and many not-so-beginners) come home with hazy blue photos of nearly everything.
The answer of course is to bring your own light in the form of a flash (strobe). Even strobe light however, can only penetrate a few feet before it becomes blue-green. As an example of not getting quite close enough, look at the photo on the left below, taken in the Maldives:
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It's obvious, especially compared to the one on the right, that there was no strobe light on the subject. The one on the right was taken in Truk Lagoon with a very wide angle lens from only about 4 feet away. Substantial difference!
So etch this in your brain: Getting closer will very likely improve your photos more than anything else you can do.
2. Get low and aim up:
The reason for this is more art and less science than the 'get close' rule. This is because aiming the camera up so that all or part of the background is open water or the surface just and simply produces a more attractive photo. As an example, the following image is of a very cool subject, a banded sea snake, but it's still a fairly unappealing photo because the background is...well...dirt.
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Getting below a subject like this one is often not possible, and in fact, isn't always required for a good shot. However, it's a good rule to follow most of the time for better composition.
3. Evaluate and be critical:
This part is a wonderful balance of art and tech. This is really just looking at your photos and figuring out what's wrong with them both technically and artistically. This isn't quite as simple as it sounds. Most people can say "I like it" or "that sucks", but saying why is sometimes a challenge. It's even more of a challenge to say "I like it but it could be better". As I said earlier, I'll leave the details of this for other people to explain but take my word for it, you won't get better if you don't do this. With some shots, deciding what could improve will be a no-brainer, with others it'll be very difficult. With a little luck maybe you'll end up with some that have no room for improvement.
A book that is widely accepted as "the bible" of composition and one that I highly recommend is "Jim Church's Essential Guide to Composition" By Jim Church. It's available through most booksellers or your dive shop.
Note: A good reason to learn to evaluate your photos is that with a digital system, you'll do it almost immediately after every photo you take. If you know what you want and what a good shot should look like, you can know instantly if you need to try again.
4. Get the light right:
Unless you're taking a silhouette shot the strobe ABSOLUTELY MUST light up the subject. This means you must have the strobe turned on, aimed correctly, and close enough to the subject to do some good (see rule #1). Getting the light right is a bit more involved and is covered elsewhere, but for the purpose of this page, just trust me that understanding flash photography is critical.
If you really try to improve, you'll get better with each dive trip so hopefully you'll come home impressed with your photos. You have a fun challenge ahead of you to learn how to appreciate your photos but still try to make them better. I was happy with the first photos I ever took and I'm happy with my most recent, but the differences between them is fairly substantial.
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