Imagine coming back from your holiday and showing your family and friends all of the weird and wonderful photos you’ve taken. Maybe standing in front of the Eiffel Tower, posing outside the Coliseum in Rome or a group photo in front of the Niagara Falls. All very nice and it will keep them occupied for a little while, but imagine their reactions if you present them with a myriad of beautiful underwater shots that you’ve taken with underwater camera? Submarine images are all the more impressive and interesting because they aren't your average holiday snaps.
The first thing you need to know is that you don’t have to be a trained scuba diver to start your fishy photo collection – you can take part by simply swimming or snorkelling. You may not get access to as many species of sea life as a diver but there are still literally thousands of things to point your camera at in the shallows. Don't underestimate the value of human subjects- often, the most interesting underwater shots are those that show people in this unfamiliar environment, interacting with unfamiliar plants and wildlife.
The obvious piece of equipment that you will need in order to start taking photographs underwater is a camera. Underwater (or amphibious) cameras have been around since the 1960s, and have progressed from the old 35mm film versions to fully digital cameras that are commonplace today. Cheap, disposable underwater film cameras can still be bought at beach resorts all over the world but to get really good shots you do need something better.
If you are a beginner who doesn’t want to – forgive the pun – splash out on a brand new digital underwater camera, you may be able to find a special housing for your current everyday digital or 35mm camera. These clear plastic underwater housings are specially designed to keep your camera safe from the perils of the deep- that is, getting wet. They come fitted with special buttons which allow the use of most of the functions on the camera. Using the flash can be problematic but that's more to do with shooting through water than it is with the equipment.
Even the clearest-looking water contains thousands of tiny suspended particles. These can reflect flash light back towards the lens, resulting in a white-dotted image. This irritating phenomenon is called 'backscatter'. The best way to get rid of it is to turn your flash off altogether (in shallow water natural light can be perfectly adequate). Advanced underwater photographers might also use an external flash positioned above or to one side of the camera, so the backscatter bounces away from the lens.
Often, a novice underwater photographer will find that their first batch of photos look curiously colorless. Shooting through water does wash out bright colors. A flash can put the brightness back in but then you have to deal with backscatter. A good solution for first-timers is to get up close and personal with the subject. The closer you are, the less washout there will be and the more vivid the image. Macro mode is the best place for beginners to start.
Practice makes perfect when it comes to underwater photography. There are plenty of places for you to have a go- a back yard swimming pool can be just as good a training ground as a coral reef. Try different camera settings and experiment with light sources at different angles (side lighting can create excellent shadow effects, for example) even if all you have is a buddy with a dive torch. Once you're comfortable operating the camera through a housing and have a feel for what works well underwater, the underwater world is your oyster.
Ben is a photography enthusiast and a lover of the great outdoors, especially those parts near salt water. He writes for Mozaik Underwater Cameras, a marine camera and housing site.
