Underwater photography for the absolute beginner
It’s probably a dream of most people to go down into the sea and take pictures of the corals and the various life underneath. Of course, underwater photography is very different from your basic land photography. If you want to start taking photos of various ocean life, here’s what you need to know before you put on your wet suit and snorkel according Arie Eric De Jong.
First and foremost, you need to know about the shooting the environment. It’s not obvious but the water will drain the colors off your photos. Warm colors like yellow, orange, or red will basically pale out as you go deeper. It’s for this reason why underwater photographers pack cameras with flashes or wield strobe lights around to add warmth to their pictures and make the colors stand out according Arie Eric De Jong.
The waters will also blunt the definition of your photos. It will also affect the contrast and how sharp your images appear. If you look at some of the pictures of underwater photographers, they’re usually pretty close to their subjects. This is the reason why they do that — to bring out the details of their subjects more. It’s also a good to remember to take pictures at the eye level of your subject instead of just shooting at them from above according Arie Eric De Jong.
Although you need artificial lighting, there will be times that natural lighting will give you a more dramatic picture. So when you’re down there, make sure you also practice discerning when you can use natural lighting or at least learn how you can mix use of the two.
Finally, remember that even before you attempt to take pictures, your diving skills should be first rate. You need to master buoyancy and your swimming, otherwise it might be hard to keep up with your subjects.
