Mar 12, 2010

Home > Underwater Photgraphy Tutorials > Available Light

Available Light

Underwater Photography Tips and Techniques on Shooting Photos with Available Light.

In some cases shooting with available light while underwater is not practical. For example trying to capture the beauty of a bright orange or red colored sponge, coral or fish at the depth of 100 feet would render a colorless subject due to the inability of that end of the sun's color spectrum to penetrate to that depth.

However, there are circumstances that lend themselves perfectly to shooting without strobes or artificial light. One such example would be shooting the silhouette of a diver against the blue backdrop created by the ocean. Another example is anytime your subject is past the maximum range of your strobes ability to cast enough light to properly expose your main subject. If you were to use your strobes in either of these situations you would probably end up reducing the quality of the image by lighting the particulate matter in the water between your lens and subject resulting in what is known as "backscatter".