Underwater Photography - Set Ups and Getting Started
A lot of divers get hooked on underwater photography after dabbling with a GoPro or other underwater action camera, it’s a relatively cheap and easy way to get into the world of underwater photography and videography. However, a GoPro, whilst great at taking video isn’t so good when it comes to taking still photos and often you start to get envious of those amazing shots you see online or that a friend/dive buddy has taken. Its at this point that a lot of divers decide to get into underwater photography, and at this point they start to realise what an expensive hobby it can be!
Sony & Nauticam housings for the RX100iv
Once you decide to start to build an underwater camera system there are several decisions that you’ll need to make which will have a lasting impact on the type of system you build, cost and flexibility. The first decision to make will be whether you go with a compact camera or one with an interchangeable lens such as DSLR or mirrorless cameras. This will actually have the biggest impact on your set up and system as although a DSLR/mirrorless will technically give you better photos and does offer flexibility in terms of interchangeable lenses they actually offer less flexibility during a dive. For example, with a DSLR you will generally choose your lens before the dive and this will all be covered and protected by the housing, thus meaning if you choose to put a macro lens on then you’ll be able to shoot amazing macro, but if that one in a million wide angle shot comes up you’ll generally struggle to be able to take it. Conversely, with a compact system you can add what are known as “wet lenses” or adaptors that allow you to shoot macro or wide angle. These generally come on a screw fitting meaning that you can add/remove during a dive, you can even get flip adaptors meaning you can toggle between a macro adapter and normal lens with ease. My personal opinion is that unless you are a hugely serious, semi-professional/pro photographer you can achieve results that look stunning with a compact system. Manufactures such as Olympus, Sony and Canon produce a range of compact cameras that produce stunning images above and below the water. Once you get into underwater photography you come to realise that the camera is actually one of the least important components of the entire system which does seem counter intuitive but hopefully will become clearer.
The second component will be the underwater housing that will keep your camera safe and dry and this is probably the most important part of the whole set up. There are a wide variety of types of housing from a lot of different manufacturers and you can find that you spend even more on the housing than you do on the actual camera! Before getting into what type of housing some things that you should look out for. The most important aspect of a housing will be ensuring that you can access all of your cameras controls. This really is important as there is nothing more frustrating that fumbling around trying to change settings not knowing what you need to do and missing a shot. Some housing are more ergonomically designed than others and it is worth trying to seek out housings and physically hold them in your hands before committing to a purchase. Other considerations with housing will be the material it is constructed out of, some manufacturers such as Nauticam will make their housing using aircraft grade aluminium meaning that they are often negatively buoyant. This can be a huge advantage when trying to steady yourself for a shot and not trying to stop it from floating away which can tend to happen with those made out of perspex/plastic materials which often tend to have inherent buoyancy. Some camera manufacturers such as Olympus and Sony do produce a range of housings for their compact cameras which are a good start for those wanting a cheaper price point. I initially started out with the Sony underwater housing for my RX100iv which was a great stating point. Some manufacturers also offer leak detection and monitoring system which can be great for peace of mind during a dive and help to ensure your housing is leak tight.
Sea & Sea YS-D2J Strobes
As you will know from, when taking photos underwater they will have a tendency to come out looking very blue, this is due to the way water absorbs red light first which means that you will to set the white balance to ensure you can compensate for this. A lot of cameras these days have excellent underwater pre-sets which make for a great starting point, however, you will need to consider adding some additional lighting to your rig. Unfortunately, as with underwater video lights this can get incredibly expensive and you will need to be prepared for that - nobody ever claimed this was a cheap hobby! You’ll see pictures of divers with huge rigs with dual strobes and video lights as well, but to start with a single strobe will help to get you brilliant results - the trick is to understand how to position the strobe for the best lighting and to minimise backscatter. There are many stories out on the market, but the two best brands in my opinion are “Sea & Sea” and “Inon”. I chose to start with a simple Sea & Sea YS-03 which also came with an arm and base tray. I was able to start taking photos straight away without much practise and not really understanding too much - and do you know what, it was great fun! Trial and error is a great way to practise and understand the settings on your camera. In fact this is another important point - never shoot in auto. This was a painful lesson I learnt and most people will learn it the hard way at some point. I had a number of what could have been great shots that turned out to look awful due to the auto function turning everything blue. There are lots of websites out there that will help you find some great settings for macro and wide angle. (Watch out for another blog post coming soon) I have now upgraded my lighting to a couple of Sea & Sea YS-D2’s and added a video light as well. It gives me the best flexibility to be able to light the shots how I want and to shoot video as well.
It goes without saying that you’ll need a good tray and arms to be able to mount your strobes and to be able to adjust them underwater to get the lighting that you want. There are plenty of good and affordable tray and arm systems out on the market, I would recommend ensuring you get one with two screws to mount your camera - the first one I had with my YS-03 strobe only had a single screw to attach the camera housing to the tray and it kept on moving about. Arms and clamps can be procured quite easily, if you’re using an aluminium housing and dual strobes this will make your set up quite heavy and negatively buoyant it may be worth considering arms with some floats to help offset some of the weight - this can be a godsend when trying to maintain neutral buoyancy overall.
A selection of housing accessories: rope carry handle, flip adaptor for wet lens, vacuum valve
The last part of your rig will be any attachments or wet lenses you may want to add - the is a huge range out there and can often be overwhelming to work out what is best. There are a few different brands out there, but the ones I have had most success with are Nauticam and Fantasea. Nauticam, like their housings do produce a quality product but you do pay more for it. I have a CMC-1 macro adaptor which has been worth every penny as I have been able to get up close and personal with a whole host of tiny critters that I wouldn’t normally be able to. The other lens I have is a wide angle lens by Fantasea which is useful for those reef shots and close ups of wrecks and large critters. Another item, which is a bit of a nice to have is an flip adaptor where you can screw your wide angle or macro lens onto it and flip it up or down so you can toggle between normal and your chosen lens giving you even more flexibility. Lastley, don’t forget to add a lanyard which you can clip onto your BCD - nothing more annoying that dropping your expensively assembled system and losing it to the big blue ocean!
The authors full set up!
Hopefully this has been useful and given you a few ideas about how to start compiling your own underwater photography system. These aren’t hard and fast rules, just a few tips and tricks I have picked up and hope to pass on to others. We’ll put another post up later with some hints and tips for settings and strobe positions as well which is a whole different topic. In the mean time, keep blowing bubbles and happy snapping!