How to Improve Your Underwater Photography Skills

Improving your underwater photography skills can be challenging, as there are numerous aspects to focus on. Whether it be the camera settings, composition, post editing, or everything else, the sheer number of things you need to improve can be daunting.

So, the million-dollar question is: what are some easy ways to rapidly improve your underwater photography skills and start producing stunning images quickly? One thing to remember is that this doesn't negate the fact that underwater photography is a journey, and your skills will develop over time. There is no substitute for taking thousands and thousands of pictures to become a top-notch underwater photographer.

General Tips To Improve Your Underwater Photography Skills

The following tips and tricks will help boost your underwater photography skills, whether you are snorkeling or scuba diving.

Learn To Use The Right Settings

The first thing you should learn is actually how your camera works. Read your manual thoroughly to fully understand how your camera works and its features and capabilities. There's nothing more frustrating than trying to do something or achieve a result when your camera actually does not have that capability. Fully understanding how your camera works and what it can do is the first giant leap on your underwater photography journey.

Master Your White Balance First

Without a shadow of a doubt, the single most important setting you can master to improve your underwater photography skills is perfecting your camera’s white balance Settings. Learn how to adjust your white balance straight away. Then get into the habit of repeatedly doing it on a dive as you make big depth changes.

This is important because, beyond three or four meters/ten to thirteen feet, the white balance is crucial to producing stunning images. Without adjusting your white balance, you can produce what is arguably a world-class photo with one major issue: it's pretty much Blue everywhere!

However, by adjusting your white balance manually as you descend, you can continuously take images that are vivid in color and have all the colors and saturations correct.

Many underwater photographers will attest that adjusting the white balance was the most significant improvement to their photography journey as beginners. Since it brought color back into their pictures. This is the single biggest improvement you can make, and it'll create a massive impact on all your underwater images.

Slow motion and High Frame Rates

If you're going to be shooting video, then it helps to shoot at a very high frame rate, in terms of frames per second (FPS), or to shoot in slow motion. Typically, video is at 24 frames per second. However, if you're going to be shooting underwater, try to shoot at 60 frames per second, if your camera allows it, or as fast as it will, or try to shoot in slow motion, if your camera allows it.

This allows you to slow down your videos in post-production and create some stunning effects. It can also add some stability to some of your videos.

One thing to note, though, is that you should only do this if you have good lighting conditions. Being able to shoot in slow motion or at a high frame rate requires good lighting conditions. Unfortunately, if you have poor lighting conditions, and the light quality is subpar. Slow motion or high frame rates with a decreased shutter speed will create grainy footage.

Slow and Steady Does The Trick

When it comes to underwater photography, slow and steady wins every single time. Make sure you hold your camera with both hands so you can actually take a very stable image or shoot stable video. Using a camera tray can really help with this.

Make sure you're holding the camera as steady as possible and avoid moving it in a jerky or rapid manner, especially when shooting video. When shooting video, whenever you pan or move the camera, you want it to do so in a smooth, slow, and fluid motion from one subject to another.

Perfect Buoyancy = Perfect Underwater Photography Skills!

The bottom line is you cannot be a good underwater photographer if you do not have perfect buoyancy. Without perfect buoyancy, you're concerned with floating up to the surface or crushing the coral you're about to take a picture of. As a result, your attention is not on the task of taking an underwater picture, and you will never get good at it.

With perfect buoyancy, you can hover as second nature. You don't even have to think about it. You know that once you're taking a picture, you are hovering, you're not moving up, you're not moving down. This greatly improves your Underwater Photography Skills, as continuous movement up and down makes it very difficult to focus correctly on the subject matter. So, without perfect buoyancy, it is almost impossible to be a good underwater photographer.

How To Improve Your Snorkeling Underwater Photography Skills

If you love nothing more than taking your camera, whether it's a phone in a housing or a proper camera, snorkeling, and taking pictures, then there are a few simple steps that can take your underwater photography skills to the next level.

The first and most important thing is to make sure you're weighted properly. If you're too heavy, you'll find yourself sinking all the time, and the entire experience will be about trying not to sink, or staying comfortably on the surface. On the other hand, if you're weighted too lightly, you'll find that as you dive down to take a picture, you are being pulled up to the surface quickly. This makes life very, very difficult. Being able to dive down a few meters or feet and stay there without much effort allows you to focus on the camera in your hands and the picture you want to take.

The second thing to focus on is avoiding shots from the surface. If you shoot from the surface, what you end up having is lots of top-down pictures of the backs of fish. You must get used to diving down and slowly approaching the subjects of your photos before taking the shot. That way, the colors pop out more, and you can capture a nice blue background if you want. Being close is a game-changer for composition.

One thing to keep in mind is that the only exception to not shooting from the surface is when you want to capture over- and under-shots. Here, you take a picture with your camera half in and half out of the water, potentially capturing a beautiful shoreline on the surface top with a nice subject just under the water. These types of images can be very dramatic and have a significant impact.

Finally, if you take a lot of pictures while snorkeling, wearing gloves can be a great way to help yourself gain stability underwater. By wearing gloves, it's pretty easy to swim down and hold on gently to a rock for stability while you're taking pictures.

Make sure, and this is exceptionally important, that you do not hold on to any coral. Therefore, ensure you're thoroughly familiar with rocks and hard corals in the area you are snorkeling. By holding onto a rock, you add an enormous amount of stability. This makes taking pictures much easier, especially if there's a current or some surge pushing you out left and right. Being able to stabilize yourself in position without risking cutting your hands or bumping into fragile corals will significantly improve your pictures.

Develop an Understanding of Composition

Developing an understanding of good composition and what makes a great picture will significantly improve your underwater photography results. Understanding what makes excellent pictures means that you can focus on the genuine opportunities that present themselves and ignore situations where a subject is not situated in an ideal position to create a great shot.

You should focus on developing an understanding of composition underwater. For instance, what makes good images, what angles to shoot at, the rule of thirds, and other aspects. Consider factors such as the best angle to shoot a fish (head-on or slightly to the front and side). How should you position yourself, what makes a good background, and how to use natural light for a fantastic effect?

Final Thoughts

This post offers a wealth of tips and tricks; however, you won't be able to incorporate them all immediately. Consider implementing what resonates with you the quickest first.  However, if you follow some of the tips and tricks included in this post, your underwater photography will develop rapidly, and you'll see the quality of your images improve drastically, session after session.