5 Things to Keep in Mind While Photographing Underwater

While photographing underwater, there are loads of things you need to keep an eye on. Whether your camera is working properly, your buoyancy equipment is in top order, whether the light is sufficient to shoot with et al. If it’s in the sea that you are shooting, then you might also have to keep an eye out for the shark!

Inspite of multitasking in your brain while photographing in water, it is important to keep a couple of things in mind while you shoot all the interesting things from different angles. Here are some of those which you should always take care of:

1. Carry a strobe with you, even if your camera has a built-in flash. You must use the flash if the subject is about 2-3ft away from you. For additional lighting, use a strobe, which is an underwater external flash.

2. Another important point which you should not ignore is to practice good buoyancy control. You should be a good scuba diver. Be respectful of the underwater environment, other divers and do not ignore even a single thing you learned in your diving classes.

3. Get up close to the subject underwater and shoot from an angle which looks up. This way, the sun will be behind the subject and will illuminate the background, giving your more ambient light. Also shooting with the camera at the level of the subject is better than shooting from a top angle.

4. Use auto-white balance when you are using your internal flash. Don't use "cloudy" white balance or underwater mode with your flash/strobe, that will result in photos that are reddish-orange. Use auto, aperture priority, or full manual mode, depending on your comfort level with camera settings.

5. If you are having problems with the lag time between focusing on a subject and taking a shot, you can try "locking focus" by pressing halfway down on the shutter button, and then fine-tweaking your composition and making sure you keep the camera very still. This works better for non-moving subjects.