Underwater Digital Photography
To know whether the digital camera you possess is capable of taking underwater pictures, you will need to contact the camera retailer or can visit websites that exclusively discuss about digital cameras and photographs that can be used underwater. You can use the LCD display under water to compose your shots. This will give you a precise display of how the final image will look. Most of the digital cameras have a review feature, which will enable you to review the image you have taken.
You would require a lot of accessories to shoot underwater apart from your digital camera, namely, flash units, clip holder, flashgun, strobe arms, and filters.
It is essential that the cameras used to take underwater pictures or images needs to be basic. Now-a-days, digital camera manufacturers increase the specifications while actually reducing prices to the consumer. Digital cameras have a lot of advanced features and modes available for the user to take control of them like a choice of exposure modes, shutter or aperture priority. To overcome difficulties in lighting, you can use the exposure compensation. Many flash modes are also available to introduce movement to the images or pictures you have captured.
One thing that you have to take care when you capture underwater photography is that in the spectrum of light, the colors get filtered out the deeper you dive. Therefore, if you use flash to produce artificial light, the colors will reflect back to the picture. To avoid this, you will need to use the internal flash. Sometimes, internal flash can create “backscatter,” meaning particles of salt in the water reflect off the flash and appear as a blurry spot on your picture.
Ensure to get a clip holder to attach to your camera when you want to capture images underwater. Avoid using your digital camera underwater if it is not clipped on to you in some way. If you are entering back onto a dive boat with a camera, generally you tend to unclip the camera and hand over the digital camera to the boat person and then exiting.
It is not necessary to purchase a separate flashgun or strobe to capture underwater photographs. The main advantage of using the built-in flash gun is exposure is automatic. You may use a separate flashgun if you wish to take some close-up shots. You also require underwater flash units when taking underwater digital photographs as the light is very poor underneath. Use of an additional flashgun is called as slave in underwater digital photography terminology. They are generally used for creative lighting. Normally, this is useful when you are trying to take photographs inside a cave or deep down the sea where lighting is minimal or no light.
Digital cameras in general have in-built zoom lenses. This feature helps you to capture the images or photographs the way you want. Auto-focus is yet another reliable feature of a digital camera, which is useful when taking pictures underwater. It allows you to shoot images or pictures at any distance from a few centimeters away to infinity. Auto-focus helps to track if the image is moving away.
The most sophisticated flash control systems available for underwater digital photography are TTL (through-the-lens) and D – TTL. One of the most dependable and accurate method for both firing your strobe and getting perfect flash exposures is TTL.