Before you jump in the ocean with your camera you need a checklist. It can be in your head or on a piece of paper. You might as well print out the one below. Here we go:
What do I want to shoot today?
Make up your mind. It very much pays off to think about this question. Of course, if the rarest of all shrimps or an imposing ray comes by, you’ll take a shot of it. Still, if your mind is set on a certain subject, you will be looking for it in a more concentrated manner. Lately I have been focusing on photographing blennies, and I have hence noticed much more of these fascinating fishes. Of course, the subject selection already comes into play when choosing the proper lens on land before the dive:
if I plan to shoot
I will use
If I hope to photograph
then I will use
On many dives you have a good chance of guessing what marine life will show up. Talk to your dive guide or another experienced local beforehand if you are new to a site. What if you use a point & shoot with no options to change lenses? Even then you might own a macro or wide angle adapter, which you want to bring for the desired photo subject.
Camera battery charged?
“Did you get a good shot of the mating blue ring octopi?” “No. My camera battery was empty.” You don’t want to be that guy!
Strobes charged?
Strobes need a lot of juice. Charge early and often.
Lens cap off?
If there is a lens cap on the front of your lens, all your pictures will be like the New Zealand rugby team: All Black. It has happened. To the best of us!
Lens on Auto focus?
In most SLRs you can switch the lens between manual and auto focus. The switch is on the lens, and not accessible when the camera is in the housing. Underwater you need to use auto focus, unless you 1. have a gear wheel to change the focus and 2. want to make you life really complicated or have a very special shot in mind. My favorite lens, the Canon 100 mm USW f2.8, also has a switch to change the minimum focus length between 31 cm and 41 cm. I have to make sure that it’s set on 31 cm, otherwise I can’t get close enough focus for many macro subjects.
Camera in the right settings?
It is not a photo-dive killer if you miss this point. But it will make your life easier if you already have set all the menu items to settings which you like and understand. Compact cameras often have a “underwater” mode that works quite well. Use it, at least in the beginning of your career with that camera.
With my
I usually use the manual mode, and settings like 1/200s exposure time, f25 aperture, and ISO 320 for macro. I also usually use the middle focus point only. Setting the camera to such or similar settings beforehand saves a lot of fidgeting through menus during a dive, when you’d rather look at the reef.
Strobe cables connected?
If the connection is electric, this can be an issue. Make sure the connections are properly aligned, and put some o-ring lubricant on the part of the connection facing the seawater.
Does the setup take a picture with the strobes firing on land?
This will only work if the last 7 points above are taken care of. Take a picture of your key chain, and see if you can access all camera functions, and if the strobes fire when you take the snap.
Housing properly assembled?
To answer this, let’s do a….
Test dunk!
Put your assembled camera housing in a freshwater-filled bucket or tub before the dive. Look for bubbles coming out. Disregard the bubbles coming from below a lens cap, or from underneath a lanyard. These bubbles trapped on the outside will be gone within a few seconds. What you have to look for is a continuous stream of small bubbles from a seam. Any region of the housing where two parts come together is where you have to look. If there are any bubbles there, take the housing out right away and redo the assembly. Probably an o-ring shifted. A small amount of freshwater leaking in from a few seconds in the dunk tank will be much less harmful than a lot of salt water, so you will have barely averted a catastrophe.
How will I get the setup into and out of the water?
This can be a surprisingly tricky question if you have a larger camera setup. Is it a beach dive with a tough shore entry, climbing over rocks? Then maybe a buddy will have to lift the camera into the water to you when he is still on land. On boats, often the boat crew can hand the camera to you. These guys handle cameras all the time, so you can trust them with your gear. A quick word with the guy in charge before you jump in is a good idea!
Happy diving! Click on the image below to see a best-off selection of my photography from the last couple of years. I am quite happy about some of these shots. I wish you artistic success, too! You can pick up more camera tips during my photo workshops in Moalboal.
