6 Tips for Better Underwater Pictures

Are you ready to catalogue your scuba adventures with stunning underwater photos? There are many great things to photograph while scuba diving, but taking good photos underwater takes some special treatment. Even if you’re an excellent on-land photographer, these six tips can help you take better underwater pictures.

1. Find clearer water
This one seems kind of obvious, but it’s not always something that you think about. When you’re taking photos through water, the clearer the water the better. This means if you’re down close to the ocean floor stirring up some debris, you’ll need to let things settle before snapping any shots. It may also mean planning to take your photos in a spot where the water is naturally clearer.

2. Push the shutter button halfway
If you have an auto focus camera, pushing the shutter button down halfway before you take the photo will let the camera detect the scene and automatically adjust the focus so you get the best possible shot. This is only necessary with an auto-focus camera, but if you’re an amateur photographer, this is probably what you’ve got.

3. Shoot when you’re breathing out
Dealing with moving waves and your own buoyancy when you’re taking underwater shots can be difficult. When you’re about to take a photo, it’s important to breathe out slowly rather than taking a breath in. Breathing in causes you to become more buoyant, and the sudden upward motion can ruin your shot.

4.Use an external strobe or flash away from your camera housing
Backscatter can be a big problem for underwater photos, especially if you’re using an internal flash. Basically this happens when the flash lights up particles in the water, making them show up in your photo where they aren’t wanted. The best way to deal with backscatter is to get an external strobe or flash and to position it out to the side of your camera pointed at an angle to your subject. If your flash makes a conical area of light, you want your subject to be lit by the outside of the cone, rather than be right in the middle of it.

5. Get close up
Being up close to your subject will reduce the fuzziness of the photo. The more water that is between you and the subject of your photo, the less clear your photo will be. Even if your camera has a good zoom option, you’ll want to get in as close to the actual subject as possible for the best shots.

6. Increase the contrast during post-processing
Often times, underwater photos need to have the contrast increased during post-processing, Just take it slowly so you don’t overdo it and end up with fake-looking photos.

Tools of the Trade
If you’re serious about wanting to take great photos of your scuba diving adventures, you’ll probably want to invest in some tools of the trade. Certain equipment, such as an external strobe or flash, makes it easier to take excellent underwater photos. Some of this equipment can be expensive, but you may find better deals online.

Daniela Baker from CreditDonkey says, when shopping online for photography tools, it’s a good idea to buy things with a credit card. The best credit card deals can give you good rewards, and credit card purchases also offer some level of protection under the Fair Credit Billing Act that keeps you from having to pay for damaged goods or fraudulent purchases.

Some things to consider buying if you’re going to take lots of underwater photos are a fisheye lens, a macro lens, and an external strobe. A fancier camera with an underwater mode can be a good idea, as well.

Taking great underwater photos isn’t rocket science, but it does take a little extra practice. Perfecting your diving techniques so that you can get perfect buoyancy will help, as will simply taking lots of underwater photos so that you can get used to their different requirements.

This post was written for diveandmore.com by Daniela Baker