I’ve been intrigued by underwater photography lately and have played around a little bit with a point and shoot camera in the pool. But when we were getting ready for our trip to Maui for Spring Break this year, I decided last minute to rent a housing unit for my DSLR. Thanks to Borrowlenses, I rented an Aqua Tech Elite 800 for my Nikon D800 and a lens port housing for my 50mm 1.4 lens. It wasn’t cheap but it was definitely worth it because I learned a TON. And let me tell you, the learning curve is seriously steep. There are some things I did that I probably shouldn’t have and some things I didn’t do that I probably should have.
If you’re considering trying out an underwater housing for their big camera, here are a few pointers to save you time and headaches:
1) Use a wide lens. The less water that’s between you and your subject, the clearer your subject will be and you’ll be more likely to recover skin tones in post processing. My 50mm worked OK but my 35mm would have been much better!
2) Don’t think you can get in the water and shoot something amazing without getting your hair wet. You have to commit. A snorkel and mask were essential for me. My favorite images were made with me completely submerged under the surface of the water.
3) Light is important. Normally I like to shoot outdoors when the sun is setting. Underwater photography works well with a strong light source coming through the surface of the water. Early morning through mid day worked the best for me. Be aware of where the light is and try to get your subject right in that light. I also shot late at night with just the light from the pool.
4) Be sure to check, double check, and triple check your housing for leakage before and after you insert your camera. I was super disciplined the first few times but then I got lazy and didn’t double check. I ended up with a little bit of water in my housing after diving down too far under the surface. Not enough to damage anything but just enough for a mini panic attack in the middle of the ocean. Luckily I had on my fins and booked it back to the beach before any damage was done.
5) Shoot with a high aperture. I generally shoot pretty wide open (f/2-f/2.8) and the first time I took my housing into the water I attempted that. I found that it was too hard to focus on my moving subject, submerge myself, and compose the shot all at the same time. To avoid this craziness, I changed my aperture to f/16 so that everything would be in focus at all times. That way I only had to find my subject and submerge myself at the same time. That was plenty to think about!
6) Use either defog or candle wax on the outside of the lens attachment so water doesn’t stick to the lens and you don’t end up with a foggy lens.
7) Be patient. Your ration of crap to decent shots will be extremely high at first. Look through the “roll” after each session and determine what could have made the images better and try again the next time.
8) Have fun! Because after all, you’re in the middle of the ocean (or pool or lake or bathtub) with your camera doing what you love!
Here are a few of my favorites that I’ve worked on so far. I ended up converting most of these to black and white because I love the depth it adds and the contrast between the darks and lights I captured in camera. (Not to mention the crazy skin tones I got because I didn’t use a wide lens). To my utter amazement, this first one was chosen by National Geographic as one of their Daily Dozen on April 24th. I was completely surprised and thrilled and so honored! If you haven’t been over to their website, please do yourself a favor and check out the incredible talent of people all over the world who submit their own photographs daily. It’s a feast for the eyes for sure!
