Tips for Underwater Photography

Found this great article on PopPhoto.com with tips for underwater photography from award winning photographer Mark Snyder. I thought the underwater digital camera lighting tips including a diagram were pretty helpful and wanted to share! Here are some of the highlights:

Main strobes (A) cast the outer rim of the cone of light on subjects. Fill (B) also feathered and set to -3 EV. Contrast strobe (C) aims at right angle to lens axis for contrast and texture. Nikon D2x, 20mm f/2.8 AF Nikkor lens in Nexus housing, Inon Z-220 strobes. Exposure, 1/125 sec at f/5.6, ISO 400.

• Predetermine lighting setups. While sometimes you may have a cooperative subject that will stay still long enough for you to adjust lights, sometimes you won't. Snyder will find an underwater area similar to the one he wants to shoot at, and set up his lights there.

• Shoot upward. Photographing from below a subject makes it look large and real -- shooting down makes it look smaller, and it can get lost on the background.

• Shoot close. "Twenty-four inches is an outside working distance," Snyder says. Water can simply suck up lighting -- flash falloff is much greater underwater.

• Shoot for the small reflection in the eyes. Catchlights are important for any wildlife photography, but underwater they're particularly important for dimensionality.

To view the full article with all the underwater digital camera lighting and other underwater photography tips click HERE

The Sealife DC600 Underwater Digital Camera

The Sealife DC600 6.1 mega-pixel digital camera is a point and shoot underwater digital camera that is ideal for taking worry free pictures in the rain, at the beach, on the ski slopes and of course, underwater. The Sealife DC600 underwater digital camera is good to depths of up to 200 feet, has a large 2.5" LCD screen for easy viewing under water and two Sea Mode white balance settings (one mode for above 25 feet and one for below 25 feet) for taking photos without a flash. When using the flash, the sure fire flash connection holds your fiber optic cable in the prefect position so the flash will fire every time. The waterproof camera housing allows access to power, shutter, zoom, LCD screen, menu, mode, 4 navigation buttons, OK and delete functions while still underwater. There is a Spy mode feature that will automatically take photos every 3, 10, 30 seconds or 1, 5 minutes, so you could set this camera up on a tripod and swim away to photograph very shy ocean creatures.

Underwater Camera Condensation Tip

When using your underwater digital camera, the image viewer may suddenly become foggy and you may notice condensation on the glass of the waterproof case and the camera lens. This phenomenon may occur when the humidity rises in the waterproof case do to the digital camera heating up from use.

To prevent this type of condensation from happening while underwater, prepare the case and camera in a dry, air-conditioned room and use the anti condensation fluid on the waterproof case. Many underwater photographers also insert small silica gel packages, such as the little white squires packed in with electronics, into the digital camera case. They help control the humidity inside the camera housing by absorbing excess moisture.

It is okay to insert one or two silica gel packages into the waterproof camera case as long as they do not interfere with the cameras operation or touch the O-ring when you close the case.

Predive Preparations For Your Underwater Digital Camera Batteries

Whether you are using your underwater digital camera or not, all digital camera batteries have these same characteristics:

1)Using the LCD screen instead of the viewfinder will use up the battery life quicker.

2)Battery performance decreases and the battery life is shortened in lower temperatures.

3)Batteries are discharged even when not being used.

Since you will be using the LCD screen and not the viewfinder throughout the dive, the batteries will drain quicker. Also, if the water temperature is colder than the temperature outside the water, your battery life will be shortened. Both of these problems can not be avoided but having extra sets of batteries will keep you from missing that perfect underwater photo! When not being charged, batteries lose power every day in storage, so always charge batteries the night before the dive.

Sell Your Underwater Photos

Do you love taking underwater photos with your digital camera? Why not get paid to take pictures of underwater sea life? Check out this website for some free and easy ways to get started selling your photos online. Or if you want to dive in head first and learn how the professional photographers make money, Click Here.

Underwater Camera Tip

Underwater cameras are amazing tools for capturing the beautiful and diverse marine life existing beneath the sea. Here are some quick underwater lighting tips:

During the day most underwater cameras can operate on natural light until about 100 feet in most water conditions.

To even further compensate for low-light conditions that naturally occur as divers travel below the water's surface, you can adjust the cameras shutter speed and aperture before entering the water, ensuring vivid images without worry of underexposure.

While an on-camera flash helps illuminate objects below the surface, photos are better with external flash units, which better illuminates the vivid colors of the underwater environment.

Make Your Own Digital Camera Underwater Housing

Found a cool webpage on how to make your own underwater digital camera housing. It is very step by step, showing you how to make the housing waterproof. I myself would never try this but if you are handy check it out: http://web.media.mit.edu/~tim/pix/waterproofcamera.html

Underwater Digital Camera

Do you know that Nikon and Rolleimarin are the pioneers who designed the ideal underwater cameras and their high quality housing which was tested on site by explorer and photographer Hans Hass. They laid the foundation for an ideal underwater camera.

Are you ready for underwater photography? Decide the type of photographs you will be shooting. This is an essential point prior to selecting a suitable underwater camera. Different categories need different camera configuration, lens and flash. The underwater camera should be cost effective, reliable, and easy to use and need very low maintenance. Select a camera which is tough enough to withstand the inevitable knocks underwater. The depth of the site to be photographed also plays a role in the result you get.

If you are an enthusiastic diver interested in underwater photography then opt for a camera which can give a good result up to a depth of 164 feet and not need a large number of batteries and also should use regular 35 MM film. The most important features needed in an underwater camera are the wide angle lens, sports viewfinder, a large lever to operate the shutter and auto winding. Check the availability of other special features such as film advance, automatic & manual flash activation, pressure sensor, rubber armored grip design. For more info visit www.underwaterfun.info

In this age of computers and digital media, one wonders why the underwater camera took such a long time to move ahead from their basic models. Present day digital cameras come with excellent resolutions and colour sensitivity. They nicely balance and filter colors along with many special features. However digital cameras with their small housings do not meet the basic requirements for underwater use.

Another option is the multi purpose digital underwater camera, which can be used underwater and on land. This type of dual purpose digital camera gives clear and vivid images underwater and on land.

Check whether the underwater camera has special features to capture fast moving creatures such as fish. The camera should also have feature to overcome the low light conditions prevailing under the sea. The problem with digital camera is once you fill your memory stick then you have to download the captured digital images to a computer and erase the images from the stick for reuse. It is better to carry additional memory sticks for underwater photography.

When it comes to the question of servicing the underwater cameras it should be noted that there are very few service centres and many of the underwater camera manufacturers insists on preventive maintenance to keep alive the warranty for their products.


Lucy Bartlett is a proud contributing author. Find more articles here. For more info visit Underwater Cameras or Disposable U/W Cameras

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Lucy_Bartlett

Sea & Sea Recalls DX-5D (Canon 5D) Housing

Sea & Sea has recalled their DX-5D underwater housing for the Canon EOS 5D digital SLR within serial number range 055000002- 055000174, for replacement of the multi-selector assembly.