Getting started in Amateur Underwater Photography and Buying Your First Camera

[Gilligan]

I wrote this Article with the intention of trying to be of help to those who come to the board with questions about getting started in amateur underwater photography.
I felt an article with a link to it was more practical than responding with a post on the board each time the question is asked.
Please view it as information/opinion based on my experience, not as trying to give expert advice, as I am no expert.

[Dee]

We are very frequently asked by members, who are just getting started in underwater photography, for our opinions on the best affordable camera set-up. While none of us mind answering these questions, we all get tired of answering them on an almost daily basis. All of our previous answers are in the archives and can be found in a search but they can be hard to find. Plus so many of the answers are hidden within threads whose name has nothing to do with it.

Here's an excellent post from the owner of SeaShooters with a list of questions you need to ask yourself. With this information, we'll be more able to help you make your camera decisions.

After reading these posts, and have thought about the questions asked, if you still have further questions, please start a new thread. We'll do our best to help you.

[seashooter]

Hey Dee,

I’ve sat back and watched for a long time of the multitudes of experienced U/W photogs that try to answer this question. Simply put, there is no single answer to what rig is best for a new U/W photographer. “What kind of car should I buy?” “ Gee, I don’t know.... What are you going to use it for?” It’s no different with camera gear.

As a re-seller, I get this simple question on a daily basis and I have a series of questions I ask:

1) How long have you been diving?
2) How many dives have you logged?
3) How much experience with general photography do you have?
4) Do you currently have a camera? Film? Digital?
5) How often do you dive?
6) What type of diving do you mostly do?
7) Where do you do most of your diving?
8) What do you think you may want to photograph the most?
9) Do you have an idea what you may want already?
10) How much do you expect to spend? Can you afford?

There are probably more that I didn’t think of, but those are the jest of it. Invariably, those questions usually lead to more from the customer. Each response to each question above will help me determine which direction to go with the client. Each has many different potential answers. In short, there are tons of variables that one could, should consider before delving into purchasing U/W camera gear. You may be able to create a whole new board just to cover that one subject

Tim

[alcina]

A common question is where to start now that I have my new rig. Here's some quick tips to get you started in the right direction...lots more can be found in the forum, too!

1 - put it all together on land and shoot away. Learn those buttons, see what the different settings will do, figure out the minimum focus distance (this is the number one problem I see - people remember to get close, then closer but forget that the camera does have a definite focus distance!) Shoot, shoot, shoot.

2 - Remember your shutter speed controls the colour of your water/background...slow (1/100) will give you lighter blues and fast (1/320) will give you darker blues. Really fast (1/1000) will give you very dark backgrounds - maybe even black. All values are approximate so you'll have to do a little experimenting.

f5 should be a good starting place for most subjects. If you are going to get very close and shoot tiny things, I would go to f8. I usually don't find a need to open beyond f 4.0 YMMV

3 - never take only one shot of a subject if you can at all help it! It's digital and hopefully you have a big card - if not, go shopping! Change angles and change your shutter speed (and/or aperture, but as a beginnner I'd concentrate on one thing for MOST of the shots)

4 - always download your efforts after each dive or diving day. Look at them and check out the settings so you can apply the corrections to the next dives. The magic of digital is that you can immediately correct your mistakes or fine tune images.

5 - start slow. Slow down your diving. No matter how slow you go, go slower. Also look for slow moving subjects - you'll have better luck with your images to start as you will have time to set up and review and reshoot. This doesn't mean don't shoot those fast moving fish, but does mean that the more practice you have on the corals, echinoderms, sponges etc you have the better your fish shots will become.

6 - get fast. If you are going to try to shoot moving targets, don't move your shutter below 1/250 or so. I've found that on some fish that are a bit energetic I need to move up to 1/320 or so to really freeze them. I rarely drop my shutter below 1/125 - this seems to be a safe speed to freeze many bits of action.

7 - get your hands on Jim Church's Essential Guide to Composition. A fabulous and timeless book that you will refer to again and again as you learn.

8 - practice more on land

9 - talk to your buddy before the dive. Explain that your priority is bringing back good photos and this means going slow, staying in one spot for a while etc. Make a plan. I often have my buddy do a spoke pattern from me...they can spot creatures, they are out of my shots, they get to explore a wider area. I get to concentrate on my shots.

10 - have fun!!!! Shoot til your fingers bleed