Macro Underwater

Since I got my hands on an underwater housing for my macro lens, I have devoted literally some time to finding out as much as I can about how to get the best out of it. This poorly written mess is my attempt to sum up what has been summed up better, countless times before, but with my own unique twist.

First off what is macro? Macro photography is taking pictures of little things very closely to make them bigger than they are in real life. It is one of the most interesting forms of underwater photography as it allows you to stusy subjects that were previously too small to pay any attention too. It is also one of the easiest forms of underwater photography, as you don't need to be at the great barrier reef to find truly compelling subjects. It does however require a level of patience that I had, up until recently not possessed.

The first step is picking a subject, it is all very well finding a gorgeous blenny, but if you can't get the right angle to take the picture it is going to be useless. Also consider which subjects are suitable for macro photos, a manta is probably not the type of subject you want.

This picture of a scorpion fish is a classic example of what not to do. The angle means that the background is cluttered and it is hard to pick out the features of the scorpion fish. I also disturbed the bottom so the subject is obscured by bits of dirt.

Here is another photo where subject blends into the background however this time it doesn't ruin the image. That is because the focal points are the eyes which are clear and the blending of the rest of the subject with the background is part of the story the image tells.

Here the problem is not that the subject blends in with the background but it is still a problem with getting a good angle on the subject, in this case I couldn't get the strobe into the correct position so the subject is illuminated from the wrong side meaning most the face of the blenny is in shadow.

This is a much better photo than the previous one because it is lit up from above and the colour of the subject stands out from the background. The subject is also diagonal across the frame which makes a more interesting composition than being straight in the frame.

The next thing to think about is how you can manipulate a background, this is a fast shutter speed so so most of the light in the frame is from the strobe making the background black.

Here however I used a longer shutter speed so instead of being black the background is blue as the longer shutter speed allows the sensor to pick up more natural light.

You don't need to show the whole subject though, here I framed just the eye and used a lower angle on the strobe to make it more dramatic and to extenuate the texture on the octopus's skin.

Macro photography is a good place to start with underwater photography as it is easier to find a non distracting background and you can easily eliminate the background by making the shutter speed faster to darken the background. You also don't need to have good visibility as by reducing the distance between you and the subject you reduce the affects of bad visibility. It is also easier to do regardless of where you are diving, a wide angle image requires lots of features to converge to make a compelling image where as you can find a small subject almost anywhere in the world.