Who Took The First Ever Underwater Photograph?

Today, almost everyone can take an underwater photograph. While a dedicated camera with underwater housing was required until a few years ago, this is no longer the case. All you need now is an iPhone and an underwater phone case. Underwater images have evolved from the domain of the professional photographer to something everyone can do on vacation.

With that in mind, we will have a look into the history of underwater photography. When was the first underwater photo taken, when was the first color photo shot, and a host of other questions will be answered in this post.

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The First Ever Under Water Photo

Sadly, the first picture taken underwater is not particularly inspiring. It is not in focus or shows anything really recognizable. However, it is a world first. What is more, the story surrounding it is mundane and has nothing to do with a spirit of discovery or trying to picture the wonders of the deep.

Credit for the picture goes to William Thompson. While he was an expert in marine life and a natural historian, the first underwater images had nothing to do with either. One evening, Thompson and his friend were waiting for a storm to pass the Portland Ferry in the Bridge House in Dorset, UK. As both men watched the waves heavily crash against the bridge’s piers, they wondered what effect the waves could have on these piers. This is what drove Thompson to try to take a photo of the pier to determine their condition.

Thompson decided to use his camera for his experiment. He had a carpenter construct a box with a glass front for his camera. On a calm day, he rowed out to the piers and lowered his camera in its housing on a tripod from a small row boat to a depth of 5.5 m/18 ft. Thompson used a string attached to the surface to control the camera's shutter.

The first ever underwater photograph by William Thompson 1856

Using a wet collodion plate requires a substantial exposure time. After the first effort was less than impressive, he doubled the exposure time to a mind-boggling 10 minutes for his second attempt, and the first underwater image was taken. Sadly, it shows nothing spectacular beyond some seaweed and boulders.

First Underwater Portrait

As you can imagine, the first underwater image did not set the world alight with excitement. Ultimately, some boulders and seaweed are not interesting. The first underwater portrait of a diver is credited to Frenchman Louis Marie Auguste Boutan.

Boutan began dabbling in underwater photography in the early 1890s. He introduced an underwater camera in 1893, and by all accounts, the image credited with being the first underwater portrait was taken in 1899.

Due to the difficulty of using wet plates, Boutan opted to use “dry” plates in his images. This presented him with another problem. The exposure time must be much longer to receive enough light to register an image on a dry plate. The first underwater portrait had an exposure time of 30 minutes. Also, there needs to be much more light, which has to be provided by an artificial source.

First ever portrait Underwater Photograph by Louis Boutan 1899

This is where Boutan’s genius took hold. Today, we have small, compact, and battery-powered flash/strobe rigs, but this was not the case in Boutan’s time. In fact, the flash rig that Boutan built would probably end up with the bomb squad being called due to the explosive power he used.

The contraption he created involved a weighted barrel filled with oxygen and placed on the sea floor. On top of the barrel was a small alcohol field lamp. Puffs of magnesium powder would then be blown over the flame. The bright ignition would then create a flash and provide light for the image. While this device worked, it is highly unstable and very dangerous by today’s standards.   

A recent video was made showing the process that Boutan used to take his first underwater images.

First Underwater Color Photograph

It was not long after the first underwater portrait that the first underwater color image was taken. This image was captured by National Geographic photographer Charles Martin and Dr. William Longley in 1926 in the waters off the Florida Keys. If you are wondering what the subject of the image was? The answer is the humble hogfish.

It will come as no surprise that the main challenge faced by the men was lighting, which remains a challenge to this day when it comes to taking underwater images.  Unfortunately, the men did not have access to our Sola 2500 lighting rig since it did not exist at the time. Like Boutan before them, they had to build their own device.  

This time around, they opted to build a flash system that would float on the surface of a raft. On the raft, there was a device linked to the camera shutter. When it was pressed, it triggered a battery on the raft, which in turn triggered a powerful light-producing explosion. The flash was so powerful that it could light up underwater scenes up to a depth of 4.5m/15ft.

First Commercial Underwater Cameras

Just over thirty years after the first underwater color image, the first commercially available underwater still camera, designed by Belgian engineer Jean de Wouters, hit the market.  The design was bought by Nikon and was rereleased in 1963 as the now legendary Nikonos underwater camera. In fact, this camera has spawned an entire series of cameras that many legends of underwater photography have used to capture some stunning images over the last 50 years.

The Evolution of Underwater Photography

From the sixties of the last century to the last decade or so, underwater photography improved, and improvements in technology were made, but the methodology stayed the same. You had to have a camera, and then you purchased underwater housing for your dedicated camera model. After that, divers had the option to add a host of additions to their cameras, from color correction filters to lenses. They could also choose to add video lights or strobes to deal with the issue of lighting underwater.

While these systems produced some stunning images, they had several drawbacks. The first and most apparent was the expense. You needed a specialist camera, which was expensive. The housing was also costly. In fact, in many cases, the high-end housing was more expensive than the camera. Several underwater photographers would buy several cameras to go with their housing. They needed a backup if they had a mishap and the camera was ruined due to a flood. In addition, if you wanted to take any specialized images like macro or wide angles, you now needed to purchase supplementary lenses for your rig.

Finally, if you still have any money left, you need to address the issue of lighting underwater. While many divers would initially opt to use a red filter to correct this loss of color. They would quickly move past its abilities and have to invest in a tray with strobes to light up their underwater images. It will come as no surprise to learn that these were not cheap either.

The second major drawback of all these systems was bulk and weight. Once you factored in all the equipment, it soon added up to a substantial amount of weight. This was a hassle, especially if you were transporting it on an aircraft. Also, lenses and housings tend to be fragile due to knocks and bumps. So, it always pays to have them well protected in some form of a hard case, which only adds to the problem of weight and expense.

The Future of Underwater Photography

For all of us, the future of underwater photography is defined in one word: accessible. Over the last decade, there has been a revolution in underwater imaging fueled by advances in mobile phone technology.

Today’s mobile phones have phenomenal cameras that can produce truly stunning images. In addition, they are small and portable, making cases for them smaller, lighter, and cheaper than some of the monsters of the past.

Today, almost anybody with an iPhone can use the ProShot Dive Universal iPhone Case alongside the Sola Video 2500 lighting system and produce images that would have been marveled at 15 years ago. In fact, underwater images produced by phones are easily as good as, if not better quality than, those made by high-end professional systems in the early 2000s.

Final Thoughts

The development of underwater photography is welcome news to marine life fans. Today, almost everyone can take stunning images underwater without the need to spend a small fortune on additional camera equipment.

New systems utilizing phones are economical and cost-effective, and they allow you to take an exceptional camera you already own on your next dive vacation.