A bull shark in the waters of Jupiter, Florida with a remora attached to the dorsal fin, along for the ride.
So, you want to take your camera system underwater. What’s next? This step by step guide will walk you through the important considerations, from gear, to insurance, to common mishaps and challenges underwater photographers face.
What gear will I need?
Underwater photography is incredibly challenging, but also rewarding. Oceans, rivers, and lakes provide endless inspiration for compelling compositions and present opportunities to see and photograph species that most people may never have the chance to encounter in their natural habitat.
Generally speaking, an underwater camera rig has the following components:
· Camera housing
· Glass dome or port
· Strobes
An underwater camera housing holds your camera body and is sealed by O-rings to make it waterproof. The glass dome (or macro port) affixes to your camera housing, and covers the lens of the camera. Strobes are lights that attach to your camera housing to ensure that you have adequate light at depth.
In addition to purchasing the correct gear, you should consider an insurance policy. Underwater housings typically cost more than the camera body. It’s wise to protect your investment in case of a mishap.
What are the challenges that underwater photographers face?
Taking your camera system underwater is exciting, rewarding, and provides the opportunity for unique photographs and compositions. However, there are challenges that underwater photographers face, namely:
· The inability to switch lenses mid-shoot
· A loss of light
· Distorted white balance
· Additional task loading
While taking your camera underwater does pose unique challenges, your shoots are that much more rewarding when executed properly. There are strategies you can use to avoid common pitfalls when beginning your underwater photography journey.
Tips for ensuring a seamless underwater shoot
1. Do your research
Whether you are scuba diving or snorkeling, take some time to research the environmental conditions and types of species you will encounter. This will help you determine what type of setup you will need, including what lens to bring with you on the boat, what dome or port you will need on your housing, and whether you will need strobes or if you can shoot in ambient light. Get goal oriented – many environments will have a whole host of subjects to shoot. Are you looking to capture captivating landscape shots of imposing coral structures? Are you hoping to create images featuring large sharks or turtles? Do you want to get up close and personal with tiny nudibranchs or shrimps? Unfortunately when shooting underwater, we don’t have the luxury of switching lenses mid-dive, and it’s costly and impractical to scuba dive with multiple camera systems. Researching your environment beforehand and really narrowing down which subjects you aim to capture will help ensure you have the right gear prior to diving in.
A closeup of a stingray in the warm, shallow waters off a beach in Cozumel.
2. Anticipate the conditions
Utilize your knowledge and research to anticipate what camera settings will help you most effectively capture your subject in the conditions that day. Shooting underwater presents unique difficulties – it is much more challenging to see your camera screen through a housing with a mask on, and the pressure at depth may make it difficult to manipulate the settings when your camera is in the housing. Do your best to anticipate how much light you will need to let in, and then fine tune your settings to the extent that you can when you reach your destination. For example, if you’re shooting large, moving sharks, you can anticipate that you will need a fast shutter speed, and therefore a lower f-stop to accommodate for the lack of light underwater (if you’re diving deep) and the fast shutter speed.
3. Prepare to deal with loss of light and color
One of the biggest challenges of shooting underwater is that you lose light rapidly the deeper that you go. Further, the colors and white balance will be distorted. Red disappears quickly under water. Without any correction, your photos will appear green or blue, and will lack the vibrant colors that you may remember seeing with your eyes. The lack of light can be remedied by utilizing strobes or with editing techniques during post-processing. With respect to white balance, many cameras have a specific underwater white balance setting that helps to compensate for the lack of color. However, plan to spend some time getting familiar with your editing software to ensure that your photos reflect the vibrant environments that you shoot.
A trunk fish, camouflaged with its surroundings, floating over a reef.
4. Be a diver first and a photographer second
First and foremost, make sure that you are a good dive buddy. This means paying attention to the environment and your dive buddies to make sure that you, and everyone around you, are safe. It is very easy to become engrossed in shooting your subjects. However, this can get dangerous if you’re shooting at night, you are diving in low visibility conditions, there are large animals in the water, or you’re diving in a current. Make sure that you are keeping yourself and everyone around you safe by being really dialed in to your surroundings. Never risk you or a dive buddy’s safety for a shot – it’s not worth it. It’s best to be really comfortable with your skills as a scuba diver before diving with a large camera rig. You will be managing dive gear, checking your air, and checking in with your dive buddies and surroundings. Adding a camera rig to the mix will add something else that you will need to manage underwater, which can be especially difficult if your camera rig is positively buoyant. Keep yourself and those around you safe by waiting to bring a large camera system underwater until you’re really confident with your scuba diving skills.
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