Preventing Damage Underwater.

I think we can all agree that underwater photos are generally more interesting if there are living organisms in them, be it fish, mollusks or coral. Well what if I told you that kicking fragile corals can damage them or that poking an octopus to get it to fit your composition isn't very good for them. With the release of BBC's Blue Planet 2 peoples appreciation for the impact they have on the marine environment is increasing. Long gone are the days of Jacques Cousteau cutting large chunks of coral off pristine reefs to study on-board his boat but still divers continue to damage the environment. Photographers are among these divers and your challenge is to get the image you want and leave the subject as you found it. The first thing to think about once you have spotted an interesting subject is to see if you can get the angle you want without disturbing the surrounding area.

Here I spotted a large yellow nudibranch on a coral encrusted wall and thought that it would make a great subject, but the only angle I could get without damaging the corals was directly above it, which left the image very flat and doesn't show the slugs features. Subject selection will also make your photos better, you can find the most exciting and interesting subject ever, but if you can't get it from a good angle the image won't work.

The next thing to think about is stress for the subject. If you were a little octopus and there were a dozen giant photographers with flashes going off in your face it might stress you out. There is no clear guidelines when it comes to this so it is just up to your judgement, think that there may be other photographers looking to get the image. Related to this is not chasing fish to get the shot you want, not only are fish faster than you so you will just get their rear end, but it also stresses the fish out. This may seem fairly obvious but don't go moving rocks, bits of coral, nudibranchs, etc to set up a composition, believe it or not, grabbing a living creature and moving it can do it harm.

As a dive instructor the most common issue I see is bad bouyancy, people kicking the bottom, bumping into rocks etc, the only real way to get better at this is practice, but I have a couple of tips: keep your left hand on the inflator, this allows you to adjust your bouyancy more often. Don't flap your hand, flapping your hand is a sign that you are slightly negatively bouyant so just put a little air in your jacket. Use your breath, the jacket is only one of the ways you can control your bouyancy, your breath is probably the most accurate way to do this, bigger breaths make you more bouyant, smaller breaths make you less bouyant.

The final thing to think about is your fins, watch out for kicking fragile organisms and stirring up the bottom. Nothing will annoy fellow photographers more than if you kick either them, the subject or throw up an impenetrable wall of dust and sand, this will most often happen when you are backing up from a subject so you aren't watching where your fins are. The best way to avoid damage to the subject while taking the photo and while leaving the subject is to use a single finger on a rock where you can't do any damage and then use that to push off while taking a bigger breath to become slightly more bouyant.

In conclusion, divers regularly have a negative impact on the underwater environment, but they are uniquely placed to do something about it, be it picking up plastic or untangling nets. Underwater photographers can have an even bigger impact, capturing images of the damage humans are doing underwater and sharing these so everyone can appreciate the effects they have on the seas.