For beginners I recommend taking Marty Snydermans online course and picking up a book called "Successful Underwater Photography" by Skerry & Hall.
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I have been diving for 19 years and teaching scuba for 9 years. For a guy growing up in a small landlocked town in the South I feel blessed with the amazing opportunities the ocean has provided him.
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My Photo Tips
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| Shoot close, 4-6 ft. max with a slight upward angle. Use a strobe or shoot shallow for natural light. |
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| An exposure of F8.0 & a shutter speed of 1/125 is a good place to start, make adjustments from there. |
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| Don't chase the fish, you won't get a good shot. Relax, practice good buoyancy & don't stir up the bottom. Let the fish get used to your presence. Use negative space to your advantage, think of negative space as your picture frame or everything in the picture except your subject. |
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| Your subject should take up a large part of the frame, at least half, it is more appealing to the viewer. Broadside or profile shots tend to make a better shot than head-on or tail-shots. |
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| For shooting large marine life or people use a wide angle lens. For a beautiful sunburst effect place your subject between the lens & the sun. |
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Look for color, In the Caribbean my favorite is Orange Elephant Sponge, it really lights up w/ a strobe.
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