Photo Clinic, Part 1

Introduction:
     So you want to take scuba pictures, huh? Great! One of scuba's best moments is when your coworkers oooh and ahhh over your photos. You can do it. But don't expect to just swim down there and start shooting great pictures like you see in the magazines.
     My first three rolls, I couldn't tell whether the dark blurry blobs on those slides were fish or snails, or even the inside of my dive bag. The next dive trip, I recognized Garibaldi tails in my photos. The tamest fish in the ocean, and I couldn't seem to click the shutter before it turned south. The next dive, I'm trying to figure out the right f-stop for a fill-flash ambient-light diver portrait, staring down the barrel of the Nikonos as I bang into rocks in the surge -- when my "photo model" swims off in search of a dive buddy who doesn't carry a camera.

I'm finally taking some decent scuba pictures, and it's great fun. I've even sold some underwater photos. So hang in there. You'll take a lot of "duds," but mixed in with them will be some knock-your-socks-off pictures suitable for framing. Photo: the author with Nikonos V with closeup lens, aiming lights, and two YS-50 strobes. Picture taken by Matt Flygare with Sea&Sea Seamaster Pro, single YS-60 strobe.

     There are ten lessons in this tutorial. You can work through them in sequence by clicking on the garibaldi at the bottom as you finish a lesson, or you can jump to a specific lesson by clicking on a title in the navigation bar at the top of the page. (The navigation bar at the bottom takes you out of the tutorial to other sections of the web site.)

There are five critical parts to getting good scuba pictures:           (1) Become an expert diver.           (2) Learn photo science, solidly.           (3) Get good quality equipment.           (4) Rehearse the shots you'll be taking.           (5) Practice the rules of composition. Picture: Dominic Bria among the Garibaldis at Catalina. Nikonos V w 20-mm wide angle lens, double YS-50 strobes.

     Become an expert diver. A camera in your hand makes mask clearing, gauge checking, and BC inflation much more complicated. Cameras tangle in kelp. And -- I've done this -- you take a breath, put your eye to the camera, hold still and -- surprise -- you take your eye away from the viewfinder to discover you're rocketing towards the surface, having lost your buoyancy control. You can't master scuba photography until you've mastered diving.

     Get good quality equipment. Sometimes your dive store or dive boat can rent you a very nice camera for very little money. But once you decide photography is for you, buy. As with your scuba equipment, it's safer and more satisfying to work with your own camera gear. If you're on a tight budget, understand what the limitations of your cheap equipment are, and work within them. If your cheap camera will take pictures only under ideal conditions, and only with subjects of a certain size, become an expert at exactly that type of picture.

You can experiment with underwater photos using an inexpensive waterproof camera. Just surface-swim over to the 10-foot area and drop down. The only difference between this $12 waterproof single-use camera and a $99 scuba housing for "on-land" single-use cameras is an O-ring that lets the housing go deeper. (I bought a housing in 1990. The next year, I couldn't find a camera that fit it any more!)

"Real" scuba photography begins with a simple unit like this Sea&Sea MX-10. Simple to use, this camera can give you surprisingly good photos. My teens are scared to death of my Nikonos, but they'll use the MX-10 readily. The only "knob" is the aperature.

My Sea&Sea Seamaster Pro EX allows greater creative control than the MX-10 -- letting you set shutter speed, focus distance, and closeup switch -- but it requires a greater knowledge of photography to use these features. The moveable flash is a big advantage over the MX-10. What I like most about this camera is the ability to change lenses (wide angle, macro) underwater.

If you want full control, you'll need to spend extra for something like my Nikonos V -- most likely, you're looking at two strobes, sync box, macro tubes, wide-angle lens, and closeup lens. Even better (although more expensive and bulky) is a top quality SLR camera with a couple of lenses, housing, and two strobes with mobile ball-joint arms.

     In general, cheaper units are simpler to use, while more expensive cameras give you greater control over your picture. For example, although the Nikonos V and the less-expensive Motor Marine II can both take good pictures, the Nikonos allows you greater control over the camera (and over your picture). But you have to know what you're doing, or you'll mess up.

    Rehearse. Practice setting your focus, aperature, and shutter speed on land -- again and again, with every piece of equipment you own. Then get in the pool. Practice your shots in an indoor pool or at dusk in an outdoor pool. Use your closeup lens, your wide angle lens, and your macro tubes. (I put a label on my "pool-practice target seashell" describing the equipment and settings I'm using.) In particular, practice those complicated ambient-light with fill-flash shots. You're spending a few hundred bucks to go scuba diving -- you can afford to burn a few rolls of film beforehand, to make sure you come back with decent pictures.

Nice picture of a crawdad in Deer Creek? Well, what you don't see in this photo is the big rock sitting on his tail so he'd stick around while I tried different strobe angles and different camera settings. He was even patient enough to wait while I switched from the closeup lens to a macro tube. Practice makes perfect. Deer Creek crawdaddy (not eaten). Nikonos V with single YS-50 strobe, closeup lens on 35 mm.

Practice composition. Some people have the "artist's eye." The rest of us can learn it. Most of the "rules" of land photography also apply to scuba photos, but there are the complicating factors of water clarity, color loss, etc. We'll discuss the "rule of thirds," participation, sense of scale, and other topics in this photo clinic. Practice these composition rules with your out-of-water family photos. Picture: Gary Argyle bulls his way up the sandstone at Slickrock in southern Utah. Canon A-1, 75-mm lens.

Shoot a lot of pictures!  I typically shoot an entire roll of film every single dive. I "bracket" the shots using different camera and strobe settings. I shoot from different angles and distances. If I get a bunch of good pictures, I select the best. More often, one or two pictures per roll turn out acceptable. If you just take one or two "snapshots" down there, chances are you'll have nothing to show for the effort. Film is cheap. Shoot a lot of pictures and plan on throwing most of them away.

In particular, getting that perfect closeup picture of a fish will take a few "tries." You'll throw out some shots that have bad focus, toss a couple with motion blurr, chuck one or two with distracting background elements. And just maybe you'll have a couple of good pictures to save. Smallmouth at Flaming Gorge. Nikonos V w closeup lens, 2 YS-50 strobes.

     Show off your work. You spent $400 on that scuba trip, rented a camera from the boat crew, and (from two rolls of film) one picture actually turned out nice. So don't get cheap now. Blow that photo up and put it on the wall. For about $20, that photo can become a 14 x 20. Find some cheap "work of art" in a matted frame at WalMart, throw out the "art," and use the frame and matting for your picture. Every time you go diving, replace the picture with your latest masterpiece.

And you need to do something about the equipment. You don't think that attractive color-coordinated young lady diver in the magazine article "just happened" to be there, do you? Whereas your dive buddy has a blue mask with green snorkel, yellow-striped hood with purple-trim wetsuit, red BC, lime-green weight belt, and an orange tank. If you plan to sell photos of people, you need to invest a little effort before you get under the water.

Click on the garibaldi for the next lesson.

About the author: Bruce Argyle is an emergency physician practicing in Salt Lake City. He bought a used Nikonos V in 1991 and now owns three underwater cameras (Nikonos, Sea & Sea, & MX-10). He has probably thrown away more bad scuba slides than anyone else in Utah.