IMAGINE SCROLLING THROUGH SOCIAL MEDIA posts or flipping through your favorite dive magazine. Your eye catches a photo of the most pristine waters you have seen. The sun is peeking through the surface, beautifully illuminating coral in pops of color in every direction. A diver overhead perfectly balances the composition.
Working with models underwater has been a fundamental cornerstone of my career for more than four decades. I love shooting images of marine life, but for magazine editorial assignments, advertising photographs, and stock photography with model-released people, collaboration with a skilled underwater model has been paramount.
Underwater photographers sometimes refer to the narrow water zone where a subject splits the surface as the Plimsoll interface. Opportunities abound here for dynamic shots achieved by angling the camera above or below the waterline. The dedicated and creative underwater photographer can capture traditional over-under split shots with a standard straight meniscus and dramatic reflections from below of the subject, the sunlight or both as part of a modified split shot or a fully underwater picture.
BEFORE THE INTERNET WAS AVAILABLE, people read print magazines to learn about scuba diving — how to do it, what gear to buy, and where to go. For 51 years, from 1951 to 2002, the king of the genre was Skin Diver magazine. The undisputed queen of cover photography for Skin Diver was Geri Murphy.
We are the product of our cultures and our life’s experiences, but a simple twist of fate can alter our life’s trajectory. That’s what happened for Jade Hoksbergen. It’s hard to imagine, given her underwater photography, that she was afraid of the water as a child.
LIKE ANOTHER UNIVERSE, the underwater world is full of whimsical inhabitants, sinuous sharks, and huge mammals that have always fascinated people and probably always will. As a photographer, you enter completely new territory when you begin shooting underwater and learning how to adapt to the conditions of the aquatic world. Lighting subjects underwater differs significantly […]
Imagine waking up in the early hours of the morning at your favorite dive site. The sun hasn’t quite peaked above the horizon, and light is minimal. You don your dive gear, grab your camera, and giant stride off the back of the boat to begin your descent into the dimly lit ocean.
Explore Underwater Video 101 and discover tips for shooting, editing, and sharing your underwater adventures effortlessly.
A STATEMENT ON FRED BUYLE’S WEBSITE briefly explains his approach to underwater photography: “To take his pictures and videos, Fred uses a simple formula: the water, available light, a camera, and one breath of air, nothing more, nothing less.” I would add to that list an extraordinary eye for composition and a passion for placing himself […]
Over the years I have often admired Gerald Nowak’s underwater photos. There is so little overlap between the markets available to European versus North American photographers, however, that I did not know the backstory of his career. A recent phone call rectified that.
