Description:
Most divers who try underwater photography for the first time come back with the same set of disappointments. Blue-tinted images. Backscatter from suspended particles. Subjects too far away to register. Out-of-focus marine life. The course is built around fixing those specific problems before they become habits. You learn how to position the camera relative to the subject, how to use natural light at shallow depth and artificial strobes deeper down, and how to read a scene before pressing the shutter.
Knowledge development covers the principles. Light behaves differently underwater. Water absorbs red wavelengths first, which is why uncorrected images go blue. Backscatter is light bouncing off particles between the lens and the subject. Strobes are positioned to light the subject from the side rather than the front. The course explains each of these in enough depth for the in-water sessions to make sense. Two open-water training dives put the theory into practice with an instructor watching your results in real time.
Open to PADI (Junior) Open Water Divers aged 10 and up. Bring your own camera. Or rent one from the dive shop if they offer it. No prior photography experience is needed. Good buoyancy control matters more than technical skill here, since getting close to a subject without disturbing it or kicking up sediment is half the battle of getting a clean underwater image. If your buoyancy needs work, do the Peak Performance Buoyancy specialty first.
Technical
