SCUBA Specific Composition Tips

[Adventurous Frog]

I got a dive camera for Christmas and I am planning on trying out underwater photography. I am already into regular photography so I am already familiar with concepts such as the rule of thirds. Something I am wondering is if there is any composition tips that might not occur to someone coming from outside of underwater photography.

 

[Rilelen]

Shoot up - toward the surface! Martin Edge's "The Underwater Photographer" has a really nice section on composition underwater.

 

[Grantt]

Get eye level or below your subject

 

[ROUS]

Don't chase fish; the resulting shots are always crummy. And, apply the rule of thirds when you can.

 

[bvanant]

Composition is a personal thing. My take is look at lots and lots and lots of UW photos and find ones you like and then analyze them for composition and lighting. Then go and shoot and try to emulate what you see. Lighting and composition go hand in hand and it is good practice.
Bill

 

[tursiops]

One approach is to find a scene you like -- e.g. a nice coral with a colorful sponge with the sun behind it -- compose it...and wait for a fish to swim into the picture. Getting the sun ball into the picture and setting the exposure so the water is a nice blue is not easy; a strobe is probably essential to put light/color onto the coral/sponge/fish.

 

[johndiver999]

Always know where your light is coming from, even more important underwater.
Get closer than you think you need, it helps reduce particulates.
Focus on the eyes of the marine creatures you photograph and as previously mentioned, tail shots are worthless.
Lead your fish, you want them to have space to swim to in the frame.
The 3-dimensional aspect of diving gives you much more creativity or options with respect to moving the camera around, so try to think in 3 dimensions, but again, as mentioned above, shooting up with a lighter background is often best.
Fish will almost always be pointing into the current (like birds in a breeze) so anticipate that and try to approach from up current so the fish are looking at the camera.
Some of the creatures are camouflaged and may also be unfamiliar to your viewer, so try to get lighting that casts shadows or helps illuminate or distinguish subjects from the background.
Shooting straight down at subjects is often easiest to arrange/accomplish, but it is unusual that this will generate a good composition.
You are going to be "not breathing" a lot if you are shooting macro.

 

[Nemrod]

Get close. When you think you are too close get yet closer. I like this photo but it is not what I was trying to do:



I wanted the very bright background to go black or darker. I was at f11 (I think) and I should have shot at even f22 but I was already at near full dump on my old D2000 strobes. Getting closer would have changed the composition but I could have gotten to my f22 and not run out of strobe, maybe. Or get stronger strobes $$$$$$.

This one is close to what I had in mind, I wanted the near fans to frame the diver and then the sunball for depth. Shooting upward to the sun, poor strobes were smoking:



I like cfwa and playing with the light, and colors not much taken with snails and macro. But here is a snail, meh. Focus was a little soft because I was in a hurry (and not particularly interested in snails) but I got a dark enough background nearly to make the nudi pop out. It just takes a lot of strobe, a large f-stop and getting close. I should have hung out a moment and tried f22 (and focus), I think this was at f16:

 

[Green Frog]

Move slowly and deliberately but be ready to shoot. Nothing scares away the fish more than sudden movements. With digital I’m less concerned about following the Rule of Thirds. I try to get a good fish image somewhere in the frame then crop for “composition”. I won’t tell you where this Grey Angelfish appeared in the original frame from the camera, but then again, I’m pretty much a rookie to UW digital photography, so what do I know?

 

[David Haas]

If you frame with your camera's LCD try turning on the tic-tac-toe grid. This will help you position main elements in the frame at the intersections off the main central block.

Nemrod's advice to get close, then move closer is spot on !!!!! You want to eliminate as much water distance your flashes have to cut through plus stuff floating around between your subject and camera lens that will degrade your image's detail.

Depending on your camera and strobes you don't necessarily need to close the aperture (f-stop) down as much as many do.

On a compact camera like my Canon G7X II because of the camera's 20 megapixel 1" sensor a setting of f5.6 is equal to almost f11 on a large sensor camera. I rarely shoot any higher f-stop unless maybe macro shots. Closing my compact to f8 is like f22 on a large sensor camera. All it does it make your strobes work harder to output enough light for such a small lens aperture.

When I shot a SLR camera my best shots for wide and medium fish shots were taken at f8 and getting close.

I'd start with my lowest ISO100 as the lower ISO usually yields more dynamic range and detail. I wouldn't hesitate to increase my ISO to 200-400 if diving early or late in the day, deep, etc.

Just one old guy's opinion

David Haas