Underwater Photography for Beginners: A 2025 Complete Guide

Underwater photography is a captivating art form that blends the challenges of diving with the creativity of photography. It’s about capturing the vibrant, mysterious world that lies beneath the waves. Whether you're a novice diver with a smartphone or a seasoned pro with a DSLR, this comprehensive guide will walk you through everything you need to know—from essential gear and core techniques to advanced creative strategies—to take your underwater images from simple snapshots to breathtaking masterpieces.

Part I: The Foundation – Choosing the Right Equipment

The right gear is your ticket to entry. Your choice will depend on your budget, goals, and experience level. Here’s a breakdown of the typical progression for an underwater photographer.

1. Cameras and Housings

• Beginner-Friendly: Smartphone or Action Camera. This is the most accessible starting point. A modern smartphone paired with a dedicated underwater housing like the DIVEVOLK SeaTouch 4 Max, or an action camera like a GoPro or Insta360 in its own housing, is perfect for capturing wide-angle scenes and recording your underwater adventures. They are lightweight, easy to use, and deliver impressive results for casual shooting.
• Intermediate: The Advanced Smartphone Setup. Don't underestimate the power of your phone. By choosing a versatile housing that grants full access to your phone’s native camera functions—like the touchscreen control of the SeaTouch 4 Max—you can elevate your craft significantly. Add external lenses and lights, and you can tackle advanced subjects like half-and-half (split) shots, intricate macro life, and even elusive blackwater critters. You can also leverage your phone's powerful features like slow-motion, time-lapse, and panoramic modes to unlock a new level of creativity.

• Professional Grade: Mirrorless / DSLR. For ultimate image quality and control, professional photographers turn to mirrorless or DSLR cameras (like the Sony A7S III or Canon EOS series) in custom-fit housings. Paired with specialized underwater lenses such as fisheye or macro, this setup offers unparalleled performance but comes at a significantly higher cost and a steeper learning curve, making it ideal for commercial work and dedicated enthusiasts.

2. Essential Accessories for Better Images

Once you have your camera, accessories are what truly transform your photos by compensating for the unique challenges of the underwater environment.

• Red Filters & Lights (Strobes/Video Lights): Water is a natural filter that absorbs light, with red light (wavelength 620-750nm) being the first color to disappear. At just 10 meters (about 33 feet), most reds will appear as dull brown or gray. To counteract this, you have two primary options. On a budget, a red filter can help restore some of the lost color in shallower, sunny conditions. However, for the best results below 10 meters, you need to bring your own light. Underwater strobes (flashes) or video lights (continuous light) with a color temperature around 5500K will reintroduce true colors and make your subjects pop.
• Buoyancy Arms & Floats: A professional camera rig can be heavy. Buoyancy arms and floats are used to make your setup neutrally buoyant, preventing it from sinking and allowing you to hold it steady for sharper images and smoother video.
• Lenses and Diopters:
  • Wide-Angle Lenses: These are essential for capturing large scenes like coral reefs, shipwrecks, or majestic creatures like whale sharks. They broaden your field of view and allow you to get closer to your subject, reducing the amount of water between your camera and the subject, which in turn increases clarity and color.
  • Macro Lenses/Diopters: For the tiny wonders of the ocean—like nudibranchs, shrimp, and small fish—a macro lens or a wet-diopter that screws onto your housing’s port is a must. These allow you to get extremely close and capture stunning detail. They are best paired with a focused video light (around 2000 lumens) or a strobe to properly illuminate the subject.

3. Other Protective Gear

For smaller items or when you want to travel light, a protective pouch is a great option. The Sea To Max pouch offers a convenient way to carry and protect your essentials.

Part II: Core Techniques – The Golden Rules of Underwater Shooting

Great gear is only half the battle. Mastering these fundamental techniques will make the biggest difference in the quality of your work.

1. Managing Light and Color

• Work with Natural Light: In shallow water (0-10 meters), the sun is your best friend. Plan your dives for midday when the sun is directly overhead for maximum light penetration and the best color rendition.
• Master Artificial Light: In deeper water or on cloudy days, your lights are crucial. The key is positioning. To avoid "backscatter"—the ugly white specks caused by light reflecting off particles in the water—position your strobes or video lights out to the sides and slightly forward of your housing. This illuminates the subject from the side, not from the camera's point of view, creating rich detail without lighting up the water in between.
• Set Manual White Balance: Don't rely on your camera's auto white balance, which can get confused by the overwhelming blue and produce inaccurate colors. Set a custom white balance at your shooting depth using a white slate, or use a preset around 5000-5500K. For the most flexibility, shoot in RAW format, which allows you to precisely adjust the white balance in post-production.
• Use a Color-Correction App: For quick and effective results, especially with a smartphone, apps like UWACAM can restore natural colors with a single tap, making post-editing a breeze.

2. Buoyancy and Stability Control

• Master Neutral Buoyancy: This is the single most important skill for any underwater photographer. Use your BCD and, most importantly, your breath to maintain a perfectly stable, suspended position in the water. This prevents you from accidentally kicking up sand or, worse, damaging fragile coral.
• Create a Stable Platform: Hold your camera rig with both hands, keeping your arms tucked in close to your body to minimize movement. If possible and safe, you can use a single finger on a dead piece of rock to stabilize yourself, but never touch living coral.
• Move Slowly and Deliberately: Water creates significant drag. All your movements—panning, tilting, or moving forward—should be slow and smooth to avoid jerky footage and blurry photos. Most action cameras have excellent built-in stabilization, which can be a huge help here.

3. Composition and Creative Angles

• Wide-Angle Composition:
  • Shoot Upwards: One of the most classic and effective techniques. Shooting from a low angle towards the surface uses the water and sunlight as a beautiful blue or sunburst background, perfectly silhouetting subjects like divers, turtles, or sharks.
  • Use Framing: Create depth by using elements in the environment as a natural frame. Shoot through a window on a shipwreck or a hole in a coral formation to draw the viewer's eye to your subject.
• Macro Composition:
  • Get Close, Then Closer: Due to the way light and focus work underwater, you need to be physically close to your subject. Focus manually on the most important detail, like the eyes of a fish or the rhinophores of a nudibranch.
  • Create a Black Background: A powerful technique to isolate a macro subject. Position your light directly on the subject, use a faster shutter speed and a closed aperture (e.g. f/16), and lower your ISO. This exposes the subject correctly while leaving the background completely black and dramatic.
• Capturing Motion:
  • To freeze the action of a fast-moving school of fish, use a high shutter speed (1/1000s or faster). To create a sense of motion blur, use a slower shutter speed (like 1/30s) and pan your camera along with the moving subject.

Part III: Scenario Guide – Strategies for Different Environments

1. Coral Reefs and Marine Life

Approaching marine life without disturbing it is a skill that takes patience and practice.

• Move Slowly: Fast, sudden movements will scare away almost any creature. Approach calmly and let the animal get used to your presence. If you see a fish turn its side to you, it's a sign of stress—stop and wait for it to relax.
• Perfect Your Buoyancy: Excellent buoyancy control allows you to hover motionless, observing and shooting without impacting the environment. This is crucial for getting close to skittish subjects.
• Observe First, Shoot Second: Before you even raise your camera, watch the animal's behavior. This helps you anticipate its movements and capture more interesting, natural actions like feeding, cleaning, mating, or territorial disputes. A photo tells a much richer story when it captures a behavior, not just a portrait.
• Use Foreground and Background: Create a sense of place by composing your shot with layers. Use a piece of coral as a foreground element, place a school of fish in the mid-ground, and let the deep blue water serve as the background for a dynamic, three-dimensional scene.

2. Underwater Portraits (Divers/Models)

• Guide Your Model's Pose: A streamlined, elegant pose always looks better than a clumsy one. Ask your model to keep their hands together in front of them or hold a dive light to create a more graceful silhouette.
• Use Bubbles Creatively: The bubbles a diver exhales can add a fantastic sense of motion and life to a photo. Capture them as they rise towards the surface to create leading lines and a dynamic atmosphere.
• Master Your Lighting: Avoid lighting a model straight-on, as this can create flat, uninteresting images. Use side lighting or backlighting to sculpt their form and create a dramatic outline. A small dive light can be used to fill in shadows on their face.

3. Shipwrecks and Underwater Structures

• Go Wide and Get Low: Use a wide-angle or fisheye lens and shoot from the bottom of the wreck looking up. This angle emphasizes the scale and grandeur of the structure. Including a diver in the shot provides a crucial sense of scale and makes the image far more impactful.
• Capture Motion with a Slow Shutter: For a creative effect, secure your camera on a tripod. Use a slow shutter speed (1-2 seconds) to capture the soft, blurry motion of water flowing through the wreck or of fish swimming by, contrasting it with the sharp, static structure.

Part IV: Safety and Best Practices

No photo is worth risking your life or harming the environment. Always prioritize safety and conservation.

Protection on the Go

Whether you're walking on the beach or on a boat, your gear is exposed to the elements. A good case protects it from sand, water, and accidental drops. The DIVEVOLK case is designed for divers on the move.

Equipment Checks

• Before every single dive, meticulously inspect your housing's O-ring for any sand, hair, or debris that could compromise the seal.
• Once underwater, avoid opening the housing for any reason. This can trap moisture inside, which can condense on your lens when the camera heats up, ruining your shoot.

Diving Safety First

• Always dive with a buddy, especially when you are focused on photography.
• Pay close attention to your depth, air supply, and no-decompression limits. It’s easy to get distracted while searching for the perfect shot.
• If you ever have an equipment malfunction, such as a housing leak, terminate the dive immediately and ascend safely. The camera is not worth the risk.

Protect the Underwater World

• Never touch coral or other marine life. Your fins are one of the biggest dangers to a reef; maintain awareness of your position to avoid breaking fragile corals.
• Do not feed or bait animals for a photo.
• Be mindful of your lights. Avoid shining a powerful strobe or video light directly into the eyes of small, sensitive creatures for extended periods.

Part V: The Path to Improvement

Becoming a great underwater photographer is a journey of continuous learning.

• Start in the Shallows: Practice using your camera setup while snorkeling in a calm, shallow area. This lets you get comfortable with the controls and settings without the added complexities of scuba diving.
• Study the Masters: Look at the work of world-renowned underwater photographers like Alex Mustard and Brian Skerry. Analyze their use of light, composition, and subject matter to inspire your own creativity.
• Take a Course: Many dive centers and resorts offer specialized underwater photography courses. These are invaluable for learning advanced techniques like strobe positioning, snooting, and understanding animal behavior from experienced professionals. You can also look for resources from organizations like PADI.

The magic of underwater photography lies in capturing a world few get to see. It’s a pursuit that rewards patience, skill, and above all, a deep respect for the ocean. By mastering your equipment, understanding the behavior of marine life, and continually practicing your craft, you’ll unlock the infinite possibilities hidden beneath the surface.