Shooting Underwater
A discussion of nature photography wouldn’t be complete without some underwater shooting tips. After all, every school kid knows that 70 percent of the earth’s surface is under water. Most people hesitate to take pictures underwater, with good reason: Water is the mortal enemy of digital cameras. Still, you can buy waterproof enclosures for many camera models, which opens up a whole new world of photographic possibilities.
You can buy an underwater housing for your digital camera for as little as $100. Olympus and Canon make housings for nearly all of their compact cameras. Other manufacturers offer underwater gear, too
The good news is that these enclosures protect the camera at depths down to 100 feet and provide access to the camera’s controls. The bad news is that the underwater housing can cost as much as the camera itself.
Sometimes these enclosures are made by the camera manufacturer; for other models, you can often find enclosures for sale at Web sites like www.ikelite.com or www.uwimaging.com.
When shooting underwater, force the flash to turn on (it’s dark down there). You can play with the color balance adjustment to help offset the bluish tint of the water. If your camera has a dial that lets you call up different lighting presets, try the Cloudy setting to warm up the tones. Oh, and don’t try to change the batteries while you’re down there.
