What is meant by underwater photography, advice, necessary equipment and best techniques to apply, to bring about this fascinating way of photographing.
Definition underwater photography
Underwater photography means a particular photographic technique practiced during a dive, swimming on the surface holding your head underneath using a rubber tube to breathe or participating in an expedition to discover the underwater world on board a submarine.
For the equipment required and the particular photographic techniques to be used, underwater photography is considered one of the many branches of specialization in which photography in general can be divided.
There are submerged worlds that can offer incredible subjects to photograph including fish, marine animals of various types, submerged caves, coral reefs, shipwrecks and boats, diving companions at work.
To make a nice picture of the underwater fauna it is important to have a suitable equipment and also a nice dose of calm so as not to frighten the fish.
The camera and the flash, not mandatory but highly advisable, must be enclosed in a special waterproof immersion case.
Compared to surface photography, underwater photography has, as a negative side, a sudden reduction in color and contrast, especially going down to great depth as the sunlight is absorbed more and more by the mass of water and this causes in the photographs taken the prevalence of a rather dull green-blue hue.
To solve this problem it is advisable to use a powerful photographic flash and try to reduce the distance between the camera and the subject as much as possible.
The use of modern digital cameras has greatly improved the average quality of an underwater photographic reportage, thanks to the possibility of immediately viewing the photos taken on the display having an idea of the result obtained and above all allowing a very large number of shots, if compared to the maximum of 36 poses allowed by films for analog cameras.
