Tips for photographing underwater
From the backyard pool to canoeing to snorkeling, you can create striking pictures of people in, on, or near water. Here’s how, with these tips provided by our friends at Kodak.
Before we get to the tips, and speaking of waterproof photography, I’ve been playing around with Kodak’s PlaySport camera, the first waterproof pocket video camera. Expect a full review soon.
OK, thanks to Kodak Canada, the following are some tips to taking better photos underwater or near it.
Take lots of pictures
Water pictures are a bit unpredictable, so take extra pictures to increase the chance you’ll get several that you like.
Look for clear water
If the water isn’t clear, your underwater pictures won’t be either. To overcome murky water, move in close to the subject, move to another area where stirred up sediment isn’t obscuring your view, or take pictures above the water.
Hold yourself—and the camera—steady
If you’re floating in water, it’s harder to hold the camera steady. Wait until your motion slows down before you take a picture.
Take pictures above water, too
Rafting, canoeing, tubing, boogey boarding, even fly-fishing are all water activities where you shouldn’t risk damaging your regular camera. But don’t miss picture opportunities of these memorable events — use a waterproof single use camera.
Take underwater pictures at home, too
The most important tip might be to just give it a try. Underwater pictures of the kids blowing bubbles in the backyard pool or leaving an underwater jet stream from a cannonball add an unusual view to your album.
Use a single use camera
With a waterproof single use camera, not only can you get some great action water shots, but you can also use it without fear of damaging your regular camera. Kodak’s camera is good to 50 feet under water. And with its fast film, you can catch cannonballers and body surfers on the go.
I agree with kodak’s comments. Take lots of pictures. The only donwside to this is that with single use cameras, you will run out of photos before you know it. I was in Cuba 4 years ago and was swimming with dolphins to be followed by snorkeling. I was taking many photos and when it came to the snorkeling portion of the tour, I missed out on taking photos of the best underwater scenes I’ve seen to date.
Since then, I’ve recently invested 200$ in an underwater digital camera. I was skeptical at first fearing that the quality of the photos would not be as good as the one time use cameras. I have been very happy with the quality of the photos that I took on my recent vacation to Mexico. All 500+ of them. The battery does die quicker than most digital cameras I find.
The best part is you don’t have to lug around more than one camera unless you have a larger SLR camera. The picture quality is as good with the waterproof camera as a normal digital camera.