Take great pictures underwater

Make yourself comfortable

The most important thing for underwater photography is to find a comfortable environment. Don't forget that the photographer with the camera is a floating platform. Good swimming skills are necessary. Sometimes, canvas prints in order to capture objects, you need to swim very fast.

Compared with snorkeling, the advantage of scuba diving is that you can stay underwater longer, dive deeper, and get closer to the sea creatures. To be successful underwater with a scuba, you must always control your position and not float. Said, canvas online most of my successful photos are taken from the upper level, where there are enough light and big guys, such as whales and sharks, can be photographed.

Understanding underwater life

Take a good picture. You have to understand your subject before you can get to the point. This is very important in underwater photography. What can you get close to? floating frame canvas Is it dangerous? Only when you understand the action patterns of fish can you take wonderful pictures and study their swimming patterns and other details. How to learn these, how to get close to them? Where is the shark's pectoral fin? Is it aggressive?

Choose the right camera

There are two basic points that are really different choices, the card camera in the water box and the SLR camera with the underwater peripheral flash, as shown in the photo.

The first system is a little bit easier to use (without complex settings) and cheaper. The stupid camera is also suitable for shooting on the top, where there is a lot of light. But the main disadvantage of this system is that the photographer can't deal with this kind of direct light, which is caused by the integration of flash on the camera in most cases. And manual exposure is hard to achieve.

Most professional photographers use SLR cameras because they have a complete operating system. The aperture and shutter can be set according to the scene and the desired effect, such as the effect of fast motion. It also allows the flash to flash from different angles. Of course, SLR cameras also have disadvantages. They are bulky, hard to carry and expensive.

Be familiar with the main settings

There are several basic settings to help you take better underwater photos. Some Dummies can't do this quickly and effectively underwater.

White balance: in most cases, white balance is set to daylight mode, especially when flash is used

ISO: keep your ISO between 100 and 200. Higher settings bring "noise" in most cases

Aperture: depending on how deep you work in the water, you can set it to F8 and F16 in most cases, which will provide enough depth of field.

Shutter: in some manual settings, the correct combination of aperture and shutter can bring correct exposure. I tend to think of shutter as a creative tool. If I want my object to be sharper and still, I will set a higher shutter: 1 / 125 second or 1 / 250 second. If I want to express or capture motion, such as fish swimming, 1 / 15 second or slower speed is a good choice.

Focus: I tend to set auto focus and single point focus, which can focus automatically. In this mode, as long as you press and hold the shutter, you can keep the focus aligned, even if you select the picture again.

You can practice in the swimming pool now

Before you go to the sea, you can practice in the pool, where there is a safe and controlled environment, where you can learn settings, experiment with new technologies, and make sure your machine is in good condition. Practice with family members, especially children, who often move around like a swimming fish. After setting up the camera, focus on what you're doing to avoid inadvertently flooding the camera.

Use existing lights

Double light doesn't solve all the problems. It will produce great pictures, but remember that this is not the only choice. If you play well with your card camera, it can also produce incredible good pictures. It's important to get the exposure right. If you want to show an interesting profile, reduce the exposure compensation by one step. If you want to solidify the light in the water, use a 1 / 250 second shutter or higher.

Learn to use composition principles

Underwater photography is also photography, and the same rules apply, but because you take photos in the water, you can't guarantee that you take good photos. Good photos are not taken, but created. Learn and connect the principles of composition, including the one-third principle, acrylic mounting online frame principle, line of sight guiding principle, motion principle, etc., and make full use of them in shooting.