Good Underwater Photography obviously has to do a lot with knowing your camera, settings and lighting technique. But like with any other type of photography it’s finding the right subject and the right angle what comes first. Feeding Whales, Baitballs or yawning Rhinopias come in handy here. They draw attention. Unfortunately there will be moments, when these subjects are not available. So you have to go back to the basic rules and see what you can come up with. One nice way to make your photos more striking is capturing things in pairs.
Eye contact is one of the key features of a strong image. With a single subject, the only possible eye contact is the one between the subject and the viewer. With two subjects, you can either have interaction in between the subjects or eye contact with two subjects or even both. Now you will say “What if I don’t have two subjects?”. True. But the advantage of this technique is that even more common – or less prominently placed – subjects will work compared to single subject photos. A single Lionfish for example can produce striking photos when photographed in a nice position – but a pair of Lionfish can already work just by the fact that it’s two of them. So you can increase the number of possible “keeper” subjects on a dive by keeping your eyes open for double (or triple or even more) subjects.
Depending on what you find (and also on your focal length and the position of the animals) you can either capture them next to each other or you can have one animal in the foreground and one in the background. Like this you would not have to back away and get clearer shots. This technique also offers more possibilities for interesting composition as you can easily create diagonals and dimension in your image.
If you like our underwater photography tips section and have a subject you would enjoy some advice about, please feel free to contact us as we will endeavour to create a blog on the subject.
Categories: PhotographyUW Photo Tips
