How to get better pictures

1. BEFORE leaving for your holidays, test your new equipment in the pool and get familiar with it. Itıs a good way to save yourself from disappointments

2. Expose your subject. Avoid photographing from above

3. Look for contrasts (against the light), complementary colors, structures

4. Include ambient light in your shots

5. Get as close to your subject as possible. Exception: a hungry shark! One more kick with your fins and only then press the button!

6. Pay attention to the direction of your strobe (do not flash frontal). Transparent subjects can also be lit from the back.

7. Underwater torches can be used for setting special light effects, possibly together with a strobe.

8. Be ready! Measure the available daylight and focus on an average distance as soon as you are under water. The whale shark might swim by quicker than you think.

9. Always make a series of shots of the same subject with different camera/strobe settings (f-stops, power setting of flash).
Remember the price for your trip and compare with the price of ONE slide.

10) Get to know your dive site. Diving the same site several times at different hours is far from being dull. Every dive is different!

11) Talk to your buddy before diving. Inform him of your ideas and include him whenever possible in the procedure, be it as model or as spotter of the rare subject you are trying to photograph.

12) Discuss the dive afterwards with your buddy. Show him the pictures, also the ones you are not satisfied with and explain what you would like to be different. Encourage him to criticize your pictures.

13) When working with a model, take special care for nice and matching colors of the equipment - whatever this means! Avoid black masks and black suits. Also, dragging equipment parts do not look nice, and, even worse, damage the reef.

14) A model being photographed direct from the front might look a bit heavy and bulky

15) Model/ divers should not look directly into the lens. However the eyes must be visible to show the relation

16) Be attentive to catch( or not to catch!) your modelıs bubbles in the picture . In my opinion the bubbles make the picture look more vivid.(Exception: close up pictures!)

17) The above list is certainly not complete. If you want to add another point, let me know. I am open to any suggestions!

18) No picture is important enough to make you forget about your and your buddyıs safety! Watch your instruments frequently!

19) Treat the fragile underwater world with care and respect.


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