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Beginner’s Guide to Underwater Photography

Beginner’s Guide to Underwater Photography

Written by Suzee Skwiot
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Published on January 5, 2022
underwater photography beginner's guide

Have you ever seen an underwater photograph that has taken your breath away? Taking beautiful photos while diving can help you to capture special memories of an amazing dive. Underwater photography allows you to share those experiences with others that weren’t lucky enough to be there with you.

The underwater world is interesting, unique, awe-inspiring, and sometimes quite bizarre. Divers are the only people who get to see it up close, firsthand. Everyone else has to enjoy it through the gorgeous pictures that talented underwater photographers take.

If you’d like to begin your journey as an underwater photographer, we have all the information you’ll need to start.

underwater photographer snorkeling
Photo by Adrian RF on Unsplash

Skills needed to be a good underwater photographer

Professional underwater photographers make it look so easy, don’t they? But there’s actually a lot of skill and experience that goes into taking beautiful photos and maintaining good scuba diving skills at the same time.

Here are the skills you’ll need to master:

Buoyancy

Buoyancy is the most important rule to remember, and the one that is most often forgotten in amateur underwater photography. Having good buoyancy is beneficial to yourself and the underwater life. If you kick up sand due to bad buoyancy, this will make for a bad, foggy photograph. It could also damage the homes of marine life. It’s best to be confident in your buoyancy skills before taking a camera with you on a dive. There are courses you can take to master perfect buoyancy while diving.

Know your camera

Make sure to practice with your underwater camera on dry land before taking it below the waves. When you’re diving, you will have lots more to think about than just the camera. You don’t want to be trying to figure out how to use it while also maintaining good dive practices.

Be confident in your diving skills

As well as having good buoyancy skills, you should be confident in remembering to check your air, keeping an eye on your depth and no stop limits, and staying close to your dive buddy. Good scuba diving practices should always come before your underwater photography.

Learn new finning techniques

A skill that would serve you well as an underwater photographer is your finning. There are different options for finning, you’ll find tutorials on Youtube that you can practice next time you’re diving. Learning to fin backwards as a way to reverse yourself is a valuable skill in underwater photography. This will mean you can get close up to the rocks or corals to take your picture and then gently move backwards to continue the dive, without having to turn your whole body around.

underwater photography camera with scuba diver
Photo by Jim Beaudoin on Unsplash

Underwater photography equipment

There are multiple pieces of equipment that will make your underwater photography successful. Investing in the proper gear will allow you to stay safe and creative while diving.

Camera

You can’t be a photographer without a camera! There are many options to choose from, depending on your budget. As a beginner, a simple, waterproof, compact camera would be a great choice to start you off, many can be taken to around 65ft (20m) deep without worry of flooding, they are easy to carry and simple to use, and can take nice underwater photos. If you want to take your photography to the next level, you could opt for a DSLR which will give you higher resolution and more options of settings to adjust for more perfect pictures. These are not made to be waterproof but can be taken under water using a special housing.

Underwater housing

Underwater housing is an essential piece of equipment for underwater photography. Housing will protect your camera from getting wet. They can even be used with waterproof cameras, to allow them to be taken deeper underwater.

External strobe or flash

If using a DSLR camera, a flash or strobe will minimize backscatter. Make sure to position it away from your underwater camera housing.

Lenses

Depending on your camera, different lenses can be used for different shots, for example a macro lens for capturing all the detail on small, closeup subjects, and a dome port will give a fish-eye effect. Check that your housing fits your lenses before buying.

Color correcting filters

Filters are used to counteract the color that is lost as you go deeper underwater. Red colors can often look brown underwater, and blues and greens can look excessive. Therefore, a filter can be used to bring out those reds and tone down the blues and greens in your photos.

Large memory card

You need a memory card so you have plenty of space for your fantastic photos!

underwater photographer scuba diving with dagong
Photo by Simon Infanger on Unsplash

Underwater photography safety rules

It’s easy to get distracted when caught up in capturing the perfect photograph and forget safety rules. Here are a few tips to keep in mind while snapping underwater. These safety tips will keep yourself safe and to protect marine life too.

Don’t touch or chase

This is a rule you learn in your Open Water Course: never touch marine life. Touching some underwater life can be dangerous for yourself (stings, burns, bites, etc) but can also harm the fish and coral. Your skin carries bacteria that can be harmful to certain species. Even though it’s tempting to move or hold onto some coral or rocks, or to try and entice a critter out of it’s hole with your fingers to get a better picture, their (and your) wellbeing is much more important. The same goes for chasing sea creatures. If they want to get away from you, let them. After all, you’re in their home.

Be neutrally buoyant

Good buoyancy can keep you safe while taking photos underwater; if you get distracted by the camera and don’t realize that you’re floating towards the surface, you could miss your safety stop, or even hit a boat. Master your buoyancy to keep yourself safe.

Watch those fins

Try not to be distracted by the camera and forget about your dive buddies. If you reverse back from a photo opportunity and kick some poor diver in the face, they could end up losing their mask, or not wanting to dive with you again in the future.

Stay streamline

Keep camera equipment tucked in and close to the body to avoid dragging it along corals or sand. Staying streamline will also ensure the safety of your equipment.

Flash with care

A good shot is not worth stressing out a sea creature. Be particular about when you use the flash. For example, don’t shove your camera in an octopus’s face, blind it with the flash, and then expect it to stick around and pose for you. You can get nice pictures even without using a flash.

scuba diver doing underwater photography by shipwreck
Photo by Milos Prelevic on Unsplash

Top tips for better underwater photography

Once you’ve mastered the basics, you can move on to the skills that will turn your good underwater photography, into great underwater photography.

Learn about marine life

Photos of rare creatures will be the most valuable to the viewer. If you learn about which animals, plants, or corals to look out for on a dive, then you can try to take a stunning photograph of something extra special. You’ll also learn where you’re most likely to find certain animals.

Watch documentaries

Underwater documentaries and movies will showcase the amazing underwater world in high definition. This will inspire you to get out there, and give you an idea of good angles.

Follow other underwater photographers

There are many amazing, professional underwater photographers out there who upload their pictures to social media. Follow them for inspiration and tips.

Learn how to edit photos

Editing a photo can make a photograph really pop. You can adjust the colors, contrast, saturation, and more. Good editing software such as Lightroom or Photoshop are good investments as an aspiring underwater photographer.

Make sure the subject’s eyes are in focus (If what you’re shooting has eyes)

This is where the viewers’ eyes will be drawn to first, and is therefore the most important to be clear.

Master photo composition

Get low, and shoot at an upwards angle. Try to fill your frame with the subject.

Use auto white-balance

White balance is especially important when using a flash or strobe. Use custom white balance or underwater mode when not using a flash.

Learn how to use manual mode or aperture priority model

If your camera has the option, you can control the balance between the natural light and the light from the flash. Also remember to photograph in 20ft (6m) of water or less, with the sun behind you. This is especially the case if you are shooting with natural light.

sea turtle
Photo by Jakob Owens on Unsplash

Best locations for underwater photography

There are many gorgeous dive spots around the world for lovers of underwater photography. Some photographers enjoy taking pictures of big creatures such as whales and sharks, some enjoy hunting for tiny shrimp and nudibranchs, and others just love underwater landscapes with bright, beautiful corals. There’s a dive site for everyone to capture their perfect picture. Here’s are the top 10 locations for underwater photography in the world.

Bimini, Bahamas

If you’re looking to photograph bigger marine life, Bimini is famous for encounters with hammerhead sharks, as well as the occasional bull shark, and nurse shark. It’s a great shark diving destination. This dive haven boasts crystal clear visibility, perfect for photography.

Monterey Bay, California

Monterey Bay, California is famous for the dive site Breakwater Cove, which is home to beautiful kelp forests, sea lions, and mola mola. This dive is perfect for lovers of macro photography, as it offers closeup opportunities with sea stars, octopuses, and anemones.

Raja Ampat, Indonesia

Raja Ampat has some of the most diverse dive sites on Earth. Our favorite dive site in Raja Ampat is Cape Kri, which holds the record for the highest number of species spotted on a single dive, at one dive site. This makes for some exciting photo opportunities.

Galapagos Islands, Ecuador

The Galapagos Islands offer amazing photography opportunities both above and below the waves. Seen by many as the best location for diving in the world, you’re likely to spot up to 28 species of shark, as well as various rays, sea lions, iguanas, turtles, dolphins, and very colorful corals.

Revillagigedo Islands, Mexico

From November through June, giant manta rays, whitetip reef sharks, and hammerheads can be found in the Revillagigedo Islands regularly, and humpback whales migrate through the area around January and February every year. If you’re looking for large photography subjects, this is the place for you.

Great Barrier Reef, Australia

The Great Barrier Reef is the world’s largest reef system that stretches 1400 miles (2253 km) down the east coast of Australia. Offering countless species of beautiful fishes and corals, and sometimes whale encounters, you’ll need extra memory cards for your camera when diving here.

Andaman Islands, Indian Ocean

An archipelago made up of over 300 small islands, the Andaman Islands are a top underwater photography spot. Diving season is October-May, and you can expect clear visibility, dugongs, turtles, and pristine corals, all adding up to a gorgeous photo or two.

Agulhas Bank, South Africa

Famous for the sardine run, divers travel from around the world to witness what is most likely the largest migration of marine life in the world. Sharks, dolphins, whales, and birds create a whirlpool of beautiful mayhem as they hunt the millions of sardines that make their way up the coast to spawn. This would make for an incredible underwater photo.

Ko Pha-ngan, Thailand

About an hour away from shore, you’ll find the famous Sail Rock dive site where it’s not unusual to see whale sharks. The corals are stunning, and large schools of huge barracuda, batfish, and massive groupers can be spotted daily.

West Bay, Cayman Islands

Wrecks are a great subject to take photos of. In West Bay, Cayman Islands, you will find USS Kittiwake, sitting at only 65ft (20m) deep, making for long bottom times and lots of time to capture some brilliant shots. Open hatches in the wreck allow you to dive inside and create magical lighting effects.

Now you have all of the information you need to become an incredible underwater photographer. Have you tried to take photos underwater? Or would you love to try in the future? Let us know below.