Underwater photography has its challenges. Not only do you have to be skillful enough to stay underwater long enough to set up and take a picture, but the lighting can be a nightmare. Once you get into it there are different ways to light your photo underwater.
You can use natural light. This is good near the surface where there is still plentiful light.
You can use a camera mounted strobe to flash the subject and add light to the scene. This is complicated by backscatter. Little white dots all over your picture due to the flash bouncing off suspended particles and plankton in the water close to the lens.
You can use other divers' underwater dive lights.
I have examples of all of these methods here. Take a look and then go out and try for yourself. It may be challenging but that only makes it more rewarding when you nail the picture.
I used all natural light to show the eerie blue glow from the skylights of this famous underwater cavern off the island of Lana'i, Hawaii.
I needed a strobe to light up this tiny wire coral goby. My fast shutter speed made sure the rest of the photo was dark, bringing the focus of the viewer right to the subject.
Natural light again in this early morning silhouette of a thresher shark. About 100ft down off a seamount near Malapascua Island, Philippines.
This was a combination of natural light from above and underwater strobes from below. If I didn't have underwater strobes then the bottom of the turtle would be lost in shadows. I like the way the light from above plays across the shell of the turtle and creates beautiful patterns on the underside of the surface.
This was a hard place to photograph. I was scuba diving with sea lions off Cape Town. The water was a little murky and very, very cold. I had to stave off my ice cream headache long enough to get this shot of two sea lions playing chase.
This is another example of lighting up the turtle from below with strobes. This was a hawksbill turtle in Bali, Indonesia. Notice the hooked bill which is different than the green sea turtle pictured above.
This was a fun one. It was a night dive, so no natural light. We were about 30ft down, there was lots of plankton and suspended sediment, and the manta rays were swimming fast. Luckily their undersides were mostly white, and there was always a moment when my dive buddies would light up the manta ray with their underwater dive lights. This is that moment, captured in time.
My strobes perfectly lit up the octopus while keeping the rest of the background dark and unlit. This method really brings the focus of the picture right where I want it.
It was a ton of fun taking these pictures and making them happen. I hope it was fun for you to check them.
-Dai Mar