Underwater Photography

Underwater Photography is one of those passions that starts out very simple.  I rented an inexpensive underwater camera and tried taking a few pictures.  I found this to be a lot more difficult than photography on land, but  managed to get two decent shots on that very first roll of film.  The "computer geek" in me, quickly decided that I should "go digital" with my photography.  So, all of my underwater pictures since that very first roll of film have been captured using Digital Cameras. 

I started out with a "point and shoot" Olympus camera in a Light and Motion Housing.  This produced good images, but I longed for "crisp focus" and no shutter delay.  This lead me to the world of Nikon digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) cameras and much better pictures (see the Galleries link to the left).

 I continue to house my cameras in a Light and Motion housings and am now on my third generation of both housings and cameras.  The last images I captured with the second generation gear were the beautiful underwater caves of Mexico.  The pictures are absolutely stunning (if I do say so myself)!  The ability to put high quality lenses on the Nikon makes an incredible difference in the "crisp" quality of the photos and far exceeded my expectations.  It was a sad day when I retired that camera.  Salt water is hard on digital cameras.

One of the really nice things about digital underwater photography is the instant feedback you get when you take a picture.  This helps to overcome the very steep learning curve in a remarkably quick time period. 

My first experience with my original housing was during a trip on a live aboard dive boat.  The first few sets of photos were full of snow and backscatter, but the instant digital feedback allowed me to quickly adapt.  By the end of the week, I was getting a better handle on strobe placement, manual exposure and on operating the camera.  I was also beginning to take, "keepers".

Then I started taking pictures during my dives in Puget Sound.  Boy, did that prove to be a lot more challenging!  The visibility is usually really bad, and it is often so dark, that the camera has difficulty focusing.   I found that I had to use a focus (or modeling)  light of some kind.  Trying to keep the backscatter out of the picture, when there is so much particulate matter in the water can also be fun, but if you get really, really close, and aim your strobes in from the sides (so the inside edge of the strobe pattern just illuminates your subject), you can get some great shots. 

The  best advice I was ever given on Strobe placement for wide angle shots was to extend the arms all the way out, and then turn the strobes so they are almost toed out.  You want to just brush the front of your subject with the inside edge of the strobe pattern, without lighting any of the "backscatter" in between the lens and the subject.   Remember that objects appear to be much closer than they really are, so you need to aim your strobes "behind" the subject.  Using these techniques allows you to get very close, and to take those crisp pictures we all love to see, even in our murky waters.

When you do get it right, you can get some amazing images, but I have to warn you, capturing those images is challenging, and can be a bit frustrating, and very hard on the bank account.

If you are looking for some great information on the techniques professional underwater photographers use to capture those amazing images you see in the dive magazines, I highly recommend purchasing The Underwater Photographer by Martin Edge.  The book does not cover f-stops and exposures, but how to capture those "oh-wow" pictures.