Hopefully Future Diver wondering about Photography

[EdwardMH]

I am hoping to learn Scuba soon. I tried in 2014 but had issues with my Doctors at the time and now have more understanding Doctors so going to try again in a month or so. How long should I wait to video or photograph during dives? What ratings should I have first, How many dives, etc. before it is safe to add a camera to my future dives whether it be attached to my BCD or something or hand held?

 

[Curious_George]

Great question and hope you can get certified soon.

Like many things, I would say this isn’t a "one size fits all" situation. People learn at different speeds. Perhaps consider waiting until you have good buoyancy control, no hand swimming, etc. and good trim. Proficient with DSMB is probably good too.

Some people get AOW immediately after OW, and some like me have been diving for years and never got AOW so that’s not necessarily a good indicator either.

For sure, don’t attach to your body, those usually cause nausea for anyone watching the video. I’ve seen quite good pics with nothing more than an old GoPro on a clip to attach to a d-ring when not using.

On the other hand if you plan to be an instant dive master, get your camera and strobes now and you can use it in your cert class (joking).

 

[Wathdoc]

Don't rush the photography. Make sure that you have enough dives so that your buoyancy control is excellent and so is your awareness. It's far too easy to get lost in the picture taking to not look at air content, current changes, time and so on.

 

[KatieMac]

It's not a certification level. It's a comfort level. You should wait until you have excellent buoyancy and maneuvering skills (yes especially backward finning) and until checking your gauges is second nature to you.

Good luck!

 

[EdwardMH]

At this time I have no thoughts of diving deeper than the Open Water certification and any safety and medical classes I might need to be helpful, unless I need the AOW to see corral reef, turtles, wildlife and such. While wreck diving sounds cool and educational I do not see it in my current desires. I am still trying to decide between the huge SSI (Diventures) or the smaller 5-star PADI (Diver’s Oasis) dive schools here in Springfield, Mo. my main hope is learn to safely use metal detector in local lakes a d since I do Astrophotography and land based wildlife photography I thought underwater photography would be a logical addition to my hobby once I am a safe confident diver.

 

[PatW]

Task overload is a serious risk in diving. Underwater photography is complex. It is really easy to get inattentive to anything else when doing it. And being inattentive when diving is not a good thing.

I would recommend being certified with OW and AOW and if you can Rescue. I would not recommend photography until you have about 40 dives under your belt. You want to be able to handle diving pretty much automatically. Also peak performance buoyancy is a good one. I have found in my photography that buoyancy control is critical.

 

[tursiops]

Diving and photography is multitasking. Best that the diving be well under control, feeling automatic -- especially buoyancy -- and with good situational awareness, before bringing a camera with you. As all the responses above have said, get comfortable -- really comfortable -- with the diving, and then maybe take a camera. But, no matter how good and how common this advice is, nobody seems to listen. Once you start diving, just look around at the clusterf*** of newish divers and the mess they make of the environment they are in and the bumping into the people around them. Give them a camera and it gets even worse.

As for how many dives or certs....no way to tell. It is up to you. Maybe right away, maybe never. As a wild guess, I'd say 100 dives in varying conditions. I'd rather -- for your sake and for the sake of the environment and your buddies -- that you never take a camera than you take one too soon.

I won't teach an underwater photography course to someone until I've had two dives with them. On the first dive I just watch them and calibrate them when they are totally focused on their diving. On the second dive I give them a 1-pound weight to hold and tell them that is their camera, and to use it to take "pictures" of anything they see...by holding it near a moray or pointed up toward the boat in mid-water, and see if their diving skills (especially buoyancy) dissipate when they are focused on something else. I end up telling most people they are not ready for a distraction; get some more practice just diving.

 

[EdwardMH]

Diving and photography is multitasking. Best that the diving be well under control, feeling automatic -- especially buoyancy -- and with good situational awareness, before bringing a camera with you. As all the responses above have said, get comfortable -- really comfortable -- with the diving, and then maybe take a camera. But, no matter how good and how common this advice is, nobody seems to listen. Once you start diving, just look around at the clusterf*** of newish divers and the mess they make of the environment they are in and the bumping into the people around them. Give them a camera and it gets even worse.

As for how many dives or certs....no way to tell. It is up to you. Maybe right away, maybe never. As a wild guess, I'd say 100 dives in varying conditions. I'd rather -- for your sake and for the sake of the environment and your buddies -- that you never take a camera than you take one too soon.

I won't teach an underwater photography course to someone until I've had two dives with them. On the first dive I just watch them and calibrate them when they are totally focused on their diving. On the second dive I give them a 1-pound weight to hold and tell them that is their camera, and to use it to take "pictures" of anything they see...by holding it near a moray or pointed up toward the boat in mid-water, and see if their diving skills (especially buoyancy) dissipate when they are focused on something else. I end up telling most people they are not ready for a distraction; get some more practice just diving.

I LOVE your method. Thank you. I am in no rush, just looking for solid information at this time. It will be a few months before I start Scuba classes as I have to pay off a couple credit cards first. (Maxed them out buying a CNC router for the Woodshop lol... too many hobbies.

 

[nolatom]

Good advice you've gotten. It really depends on where you're diving. Open Water card does not limit you to 60 feet I don't believe, but instructors are encouraged to not go past 60 with students.
Many divers (okay, maybe it's just me), get Advanced Open Water around 25 dives, then around 50 dives, take the Rescue course. Anyhow that's what I did. I'm not a camera guy, I'd rather just dive. Try to have varying conditions no matter how many dives you're aiming for.

And yeah, holding a camera does not give you the right-of-way. Au contraire, you should be mindful of others who may want to see the underwater world without you being right there *in* it, and hanging there. And, mindful of your buddy. Many divers refuse to buddy with shutterbugs because sometimes you block your view, you don't get your face out of the camera or the scene, to check air remaining, and where is your buddy anyway, the usual interactions of 2 human beings underwater.. Situational awareness is important--many photogs don't quite grasp this concept.

 

[Kimela]

Before you get a camera, practice diving while holding something in your hands. I don't care if it's a stick! Just hold something so you don't use your hands to do that hand-finning thing. When you're using a camera you depend almost entirely on your buoyancy control via your lungs and your feet finning. Hand finning doesn't actually do very much anyway - and it just confuses your brain into thinking it's helping when it's not. I've thought that using a camera improved my buoyancy skills because it forced me to learn how to use my lungs and feet, and NOT my hands.

If you already have a good camera eye, you'll have a ton of fun in the water. Good luck!