Photographing Off Shore   
and what to consider.   

Off shore diving provides lots of photo opportunities. They range from structural composition of the oil rigs from Underwater, the interaction of divers with the schooling fish, to photographing the different types of barnacles, sponges, coral, reef fish and even the greatest place of finding easy macro photo shots of crabs and small fish.
 
 

On any given day the water column can have three different currents and visibility. Sometimes you can enter and visibility is 200 feet all the way to the bottom. Then at other times visibility will be 20 feet in the first 20 feet then 40 feet visibility down to 70 feet and 2 feet visibility to the bottom. Each presents which lens to use or what to photograph. The ship wrecks have 30 to 40 feet of visibility about 80% of the dives we do there. There has been one time where we dove it and you could see the whole ship wreck of the V.A.Fogg and that's the day the camera was left at home. Usually the oil rigs which are dove are 35 to 40 miles off shore which results in year round visibility of average 60 feet in the middle water column. 
 
 
 
 

When taking pictures of schooling fish it is best to use a housed camera with a dome port or use a wide angle lens like the Nikonus 15mm. Most of the photo's on this web site were taken with this lens. By using either one of these systems a diver can photograph subjects which are at one foot from the camera to having wide angle shoots of divers and structure. No matter what the visibility is a photo opportunity can be taken. When diving on cloudy or choppy days, the sunlight is lower and it is best to due close-up or macro shots.
 
 

Diver PHOTO TIPS: Underwater photography can be a rewarding reminder of the marine life, divers and reefs of your travels. There are a few pointers that need to be remembered before ever taking photos.

First is you will find that you want to hold your breath when snapping the picture this is NOT DONE when diving, you always breath continuously when breathing compressed air.

Second is use a camera system which will result in good Photo's. 
 
 

The Nikonus system is best rented with the film already loaded and presetting the lens for photographing the subject at a distance of three feet. The less you have to judge distance and change the settings the better the odds of getting an acceptable picture. 

Next take a minimum of three shots of the same picture and never chase or photograph a moving subject. 
 
 
 
 
 
 

The next thing to consider is the composition of the picture. Divide the picture into plans of thirds vertical and horizontal. Next, place the subject at the crossing of lower left or right side of the imaginary lines.

 Then angle the camera at a 65 degree angle placing the sun in the upper lines opposite the subject. If possible try to get a diver in the background and the center of the picture to show depth of field comparison.