The Fundamentals of Underwater Photography Tutorial

Introduction | Choosing a Camera | Choosing a Film | Preparing Your Camera | Understanding Light | Close-Ups | Wide Angle | Silhouettes

Introduction

To successfully take pictures underwater, you not only have to have a grasp of the fundamentals of underwater photography, but you also have to be a competent diver. PADI the Professional Association of Diving Instructors can provide any information you want to know about learning to dive or becoming a better diver.

Things to Consider

Underwater, you are up against a number of environmental problems that you don't have to deal with on land, water pressure, cold, buoyancy, corrosion, suspended particles, nasty little stinging creatures to name but a few.

Dive duration

Dive duration time limits the amount of time you have to take pictures. The deeper you go the more air you use and the more nitrogen your body absorbs further reducing your time underwater. There are good reasons for diving shallow. You have more time underwater for composing pictures. There is more life in the shallow waters.

Water Resistance

Water resistance hinders our movements. Water is about 800 times more dense than air and resists your movements. Bulky underwater photographic equipment increases your resistance in water and can lead to fatigue. If you are using large camera housings and large flashguns may tire you out if you are swimming against a current.

Cold Water

Cold water can reduce your dive duration. Photographers often remain in the same place for extended periods of time. This can increase your chances of becoming cold. Cold conditions can also lead to condensation on the inside of your camera equipment.

Buoyancy

If your Buoyancy is good you will be able to move freely, without damaging corals and stirring up the bottom to much. Having good buoyancy gives you greater confidence in the water and lets you get in position for interesting picture compositions. Good buoyancy takes time to master but is well worth the trouble if you intend to take pictures.

Equipment Corrosion

Equipment corrosion is a big problem if you dive a lot in salt water. Clean you camera equipment in fresh water after use if you have been diving with it in salt water, otherwise you may find that parts become stuck or your camera leaks.

Suspended Particles

Suspended particles cause white blurred patches on your film due to the scattering of light through these suspended particles. Water is very seldom crystal clear as described by many people in the tourist industry trying to get your custom. It nearly always contains suspended particles (microscopic plants and animals, sedimentary mud, and other particles). If the water is not too clear try taking macro pictures. You can often get great macro pictures even if the water is murky.

Choosing a Camera

Any piece of camera equipment that you take into the water has a chance of leaking, as many photographers have found to their cost. Nearly all underwater photographers have had some kind of leak in their equipment. Keep this in mind when you are purchasing a camera, and especially when you are doing your pre-dive preparations.

There are a number of options for the underwater photographer ranging from the most simple disposable camera to sophisticated cameras in specially designed housings. As always, the right one depends on the type of photography you will be doing and how much you are prepared to pay. Here are a few guidelines:

Nikonos

These cameras are made for underwater photography and are the choice of many professionals. The Nikonos is probably the most widely used of any underwater camera. It is compact and has a number of lens choices including: 15mm, 20mm, 28mm, 35mm, and 80mm (and maybe some others). You can also buy extension tubes and close-up outfits.

The two most popular Nikonos cameras are the Nikonos V and the Nikonos III. The Nikonos V provides aperture priority automatic exposure and lets you use a TTL flash. The Nikonos III is a purely manual camera, it has no automatic exposure or TTL capability. So you'll need a light meter or a lot of film for trial and error shots. One advantage of the Nikonos III is that if it floods it is not so complicated to repair as the Nikonos V. The Nikonos goes back a long way and has several forerunners including the Nikonos Calypso, Nikonos II, Nikonos III, and Nikonos IV-A.

The Nikonos RS is the full SLR flagship of the Nikonos range.

Land Camera in Underwater Housing

You can use you land camera underwater if you get a housing specifically designed for your camera. There are quite a few housing manufacturers around including(and these are just the more well known!): Hugyfot, Sealux, Amphibico, Ikelite. Be prepared to spend at least what you spent on your camera for these housings, they don't come cheap. If you are beginning underwater photography and don't have a large amount of experience this may not be the best option.

Using a land camera in a housing has obvious advantages, in that, you have a large choice of lenses, you can use the various exposure modes and autofocus options of your camera. Although, You may find that the autofocus does not work well underwater. Using this option is ideal for macro work as you won't scare the fish as much as when you use a framer with the Nikonos. This is also the best option for shots half in the water and half out, but you'll need a dome port and wide angle lens.

Land Camera in waterproof plastic

You can buy a specially designed waterproof pouch for your land camera and flash that will operate well at quite deep depths 10 - 15 meters. I, for one, would stop short of putting an F4 in such a housing.

Single Use cameras

These are the marine version of the disposable cameras by Kodak and Fuji. They are the cheapest alternative for underwater photography. However, as they are only rated to a depth of about 3- 5 meters (10 - 18 feet) they are not really suitable for diving. For snorkelers, they are one of the best options.

Point and Shoot Cameras

A number of manufacturers, such as Minolta produce point and shoot cameras for underwater use. These cameras are good for snorkelers and shallow dives, but they don't offer too much in the way of options.

Choosing a Film

One of the most important things to remember about film is to take a good supply of it with you. If you have a favorite film you can be certain that it won't be available where you are going to be diving. Underwater photographers are heavy film users. It is fairly normal to shoot one roll per dive. If you are going to be doing 20 dives take at least 20 rolls with you.

There are a lot of different types of film on the market and I won't try to discuss the merits of each one but just give a few guidelines based on my experience. You can use most film s successfully underwater.

Slide Film Vs Print Film

There are advantages and disadvantages of both types of film. It depends how you are going to use your pictures.

For slide film, one of the most important is that you can see the quality of your pictures without having them printed. However, it is expensive to get good prints from slides. If you intend to give slide shows you will probably get your slides duplicated to avoid damaging the originals.

With print film, you normally have a greater margin of error. You underexpose or overexpose print film and still get good results. If you do that with some slide films you can end up with nothing. Print films generally have a much finer grain at higher speeds. You can use a ISO 400 or 800 film and get results comparable to ISO 100 Slide film. There is a good deal of variation in quality when it comes to printing.

For close-up work most photographers go for a slow fine grain film as this produces high quality results. Popular slide films are:

• Fujichrome Velvia, RDP50 RDP100
• Kodachrome 25 or 64
• Kodak Underwater Film

each of these films are excellent but have different colour balances. This is where preference comes in. If you like warm films go for Kodachrome. If you like a film with strong blues and greens go for Fuji.

For wide angle work you really want to use a film with a speed of ISO 200 or faster to enable you to get a useful depth of field. Of course, you can use slower films but you will probably end up with dark backgrounds or pictures with only a narrow range of focus.

You may want to experiment with other film types like Infra Red Film, and black and white film. Each of these films can produce exciting results in the right circumstances.

Try black and white film on wreck dives or when photographing silhouettes (Ilford HP5 and FP4 are good). Black and white is not so good on colourful coral reef scenes.

Infrared film can produce some unexpected and interesting colour variations.

Preparing Your Camera

Every time you change a film you should check the O-rings for damage and foreign matter (dirt, sand, hair, etc), and make sure they are lubricated. The important ones are the camera back, the lens (for Nikonos), flash connector, and battery compartment.

You can remove the O-rings from their channels either by pinching them between you fingers to force them out of the channel or by using a plastic card such as your c-card. Do not use a metal object it will damage the O-ring. Examine the O-ring visually. If you O-rings have even small cuts, tears, or slight imperfections they may not work so replace them. Lubricate the O-ring with a silicon lubricant that is not water-soluble.

Note: Some O-rings require special lubricants or no lubricants at all. These are special O-rings and are usually a different color to normal O-rings, usually red. Check your manual.

Make sure that the channels where the O-rings fit into and the O-rings themselves are free from any foreign matter. You can clean the O-rings with your fingertips, and the channels with something that does not leave particles such as a towel. Always check that you have not left anything in the channels. To lubricate the O-ring smear a small amount of lubricant on your fingertips and work the O-ring through your fingertips. There should be a smooth film over the O-ring. No big blobs of grease, these can also cause the O-ring to fail. When replacing the O-rings, make sure that they fit into the channels and will not be pinched when you close the camera back or attach the lens.

Just like any dive gear you must rinse it in fresh water after every dive. Wipe your camera with a soft cloth to remove excess water. If you are changing the film always open the camera with the back pointing down, then if there is any water around the casing it will not run into the camera when you open it.

Understanding Light for Underwater Photography

Light bends as it passes from one medium to another. For example, when it passes from air to water or glass. This is called refraction and is the same principle used by opticians to make glasses. When light passes from water through your glass mask and then through the air on the other side it bends. This bending causes objects underwater to appear about 33% larger and 25% closer than they really are. Depending on which camera you are using, you may have to set the focus distance based on your estimate rather than the actual distance between the camera and subject.

Understanding how you can use light to make effective photographs is the essence of good photography. Underwater we are faced with a number of problems but also given a medium where light can be used to great advantage. The problems we encounter with light underwater include:

• Loss of light
• Loss of Color
• Refraction
• Scattering

Light is lost through diffusion, reflection, and absorption. Diffusion by clouds, fog and haze reduce the amount of light before it even enters the water. Reflection of light off the surface of the water also reduces available light. Light is also absorbed by the water and particles in the water still furthering the loss of light. All this means is that there is less light available for you to use. For overcoming this loss of light see Basic Underwater Strobe and available light technique on page .

We also lose colors as we dive deeper. After about 15 meters of depth everything appears to be monochrome (A Blue/Grey color). So if you are using available light and want take colorful pictures it is best to stay shallow (3meters or less) Basic Underwater Strobe and available light technique

When do I use a strobe and when available light? This depends on the type of photography you want to do. If you are in shallow water (3 meters or less) and the sun is bright, you will probably not need to use your strobe. If you want to take silhouette pictures of fish or divers against the sun then you do not need to use a strobe. If, however, you want to take close up or wide angle pictures and you are deeper than about 3 meters you will almost certainly need to use a strobe. If you don't, your pictures will end up an uninteresting gray color. Some films are specifically designed for underwater use.

White light is made up from a combination of wavelengths (different wavelengths have different colors). As light passes through water, the water absorbs that light. The more water that the light has to pass through the more of it is absorbed. Red light is absorbed more easily than green light. So, the first color that you lose is red at about 3 meters.

Close-Up Photography

"...taking close-up pictures is easy, and you get great results!"

Close -up or macro photography is ideal place for any beginning underwater photographer to start. It is not too difficult.

Your main aim is to take full-frame well composed and correctly exposed pictures of small subjects. Such subjects could include anemones, nudibranchs, coral polyps. fish portraits, shrimp, and countless other small creatures.

Close-up photography is also a great eye-opener, as you often see far more detail in your pictures than during the dive. It is only natural for people to want to learn more about what they photograph. The more you know the more you will find to photograph.

Close-up Photography Using a Housed Camera

You can take close up pictures using a single lens reflex camera (such as Nikon F4, or N70) in an underwater housing. There are several advantages to using cameras in housings, you have a greater choice of lenses you can use, you see exactly what you will get through the lens. You don't need a wire framer to estimate distance, which often has the effect of scaring fish away when you are trying to get a picture of one. However, for this advantage you get a corresponding increase in price.

Extension-Tubes and close-up outfits

A big advantage with using extension tubes and close-up outfits for underwater photography is that you do all your camera setting up before you go into the water. During the dive you can concentrate more on the dive, all you have to do is find a suitably interesting subject, frame it and press the shutter. Even better, the photos you get are, more often than not, far better than you would get with wide angle. The colors are often brilliant, and you don't have to worry about suspended particles in the water.

You don't need to have crystal clear conditions to get great pictures. You can take great pictures in 30 meter visibility, or in 3 meter visibility.

Extension tubes are used with Nikonos rangefinder cameras such as Nikonos V and Nikonos III. An extension tube is a tube that fits between the camera and lens that alter the optical characteristic of the lens and lets you take full-frame pictures of small objects. An extension tube system includes both the tube and framer. The framer provides an outline of the picture area and shows the photographer where the lens is focused.

Close-up or Macro kits are designed to accomplish the same goal but they go about it in a different way. A macro kit consists of a lens and framer that fit over the primary lens.

A 1:1 extension tube and framer allows you to reproduce a life size image on film. In other words, the image you see on film is the exact same size as the object.

A 1:2 system reproduces an image that is one-half life size, and a 1:3 system yields an image that is one third life size. With a 1:2 system, a two-inch long fish would be one-inch long on film, creating a reproduction ratio of 1:2.

A 2:1 extension tube and framer produces a magnified image on film, one in which the image on film is twice the size of the actual life size subject. This magnified image is available only for Nikonos extension tube systems.

One of the major advantages of extension tube and macro kit system is the ability to completely set up your camera system before you get into the water so you don't have think about anything technical once you're in the water. However, that does mean that the camera settings have to be correct, otherwise you could end up with the entire roll of film out of focus or badly exposed.

Setting Up Your Camera for Close-up

Nikonos Extension Tubes

With extension tubes and framers made by Nikonos, you will want to set the lens on minimum focus and f/22. The reason the lens should be set on minimum focus for the Nikonos framers is that the framers are designed to reference the plane of focus when the lens is focused at the minimum focus distance. However, other manufactures design their extension tube framers to focus the lens on infinity. By using the infinity setting for the 35mm lens, the optics are sharper because the lens is designed for it's best optics at infinity.

When using an extension tube system, the lens aperture should be set on f/22 or f/16. You want the greatest depth-of field possible. A 1-1 extension tube will give a much narrower depth of field than a 1-3 extension tube.

Even though your Nikonos lens indicates f/22, when you are shooting with extension tubes you are actually allowing much less light to strike the film than a normal f/22 setting, this means that to properly expose your film, you need to use a flashgun, and place it very close to your subject.

Nikonos and Close-up Kit

With the Nikonos Close-up Kit you focus the lens on infinity and set the aperture on f/22 or f16.

Synchronization Speeds

The synch speed setting for a Nikonos V camera is 1/90th of a second. Slower speeds, such as 1/60th of a second, will also work just fine with Nikonos cameras, but if the speed is too slow and there is too much ambient light you shots may not be sharp.

Using a flashgun will give you an effective shutter speed of anything from 1/250th to 1/1000th of a second will yield extremely crisp images. Because the aperture is so small(f/22), ambient light does not expose the film in most macro situations.

Most macro photographers prefer to use films with comparatively slow film speeds because those films produce images with less grain and better colour saturation. The films of choice for macro photography tend to be Kodachrome 25, Fuji 50, Kodachrome 64, and Velvia.

Wide Angle Photography

Long lenses are not very suitable for underwater work because they have a narrow depth-of-field. Wide angle photography is one of the most popular forms of underwater photography for a number of reasons. Some of these are:

• You do not need to worry to much about focusing distance too much because the depth-of-field is much greater with wide angle lenses.
• You can get very close to your subject and still have the background in focus and include a lot of the background scene. This can also be a disadvantage if you want to take pictures of small subjects that are particularly shy.
• Because you must get closer to your subject there are less light scattering particles between the camera and the subject.

A standard lens for underwater use is a 35mm lens which is about the same as a 50mm lens on land. Anything less than 35mm is considered wide angle. Some of the most popular choices are: 28mm, 20mm, 15mm and 8mm. The 15mm Nikonos lens is considered one of the best lenses for wide-angle work.

If you are using a flashgun one of the main things you should keep in mind is the need to balance ambient light with the light from the flashgun. If you are deeper than about 5 meters there is much less light available for balanced pictures. To overcome this problem you can use take a number of steps:

• Get as close to your subject as possible.
• Point your camera upwards where there is more ambient light. This means that you will be below your subject. With a wide angle lens underwater you can point your camera directly into the sun to give a very pleasing effect.
• If you are not using a flashgun try to take pictures around midday when the sun is high in the sky, and stay as shallow as possible.
• One general rule of wide-angle photography is to take several pictures of the same subject from different angles and different camera settings. You can never be sure which will be the best, although with practice you will get a feel for good composition.

Back scatter is a continual problem for underwater photographers. Although the travel industry often describes water conditions as crystal clear this is rarely the case. Most water has varying amounts of suspended particles. This is a problem if you are using a flash as these particles reflect the light causing your pictures to look like they've been taken in a snow storm. The best way to reduce this effect is to position you flash above or to the side of your subject. In this way any light reflect from suspended particles will be less visible. If you don't have a long flash arm try removing the flash from the bracket and holding it away from the camera. This is called point and shoot.