If your vacation plans involve a tropical or coastal destination, or even a hotel pool, you might want to think about trying underwater photography. It’s easy to get great shots of undersea worlds, strange fish or your children hamming it up in the pool.


Photo by whiskeymac on Flickr

You have a couple of options for how to jump into underwater imaging. There are many digital cameras on the market today that are water resistant at depths up to 10 to 15 feet, perfect for shooting while snorkeling or playing in the pool. These cameras usually have all or most of the features of regular digital point-and-shoot cameras, with the added benefit of being water resistant, so they are a good buy even if you plan to do most of your shooting on land.

Waterproof Cases for Digital Cameras

If you already have a digital camera, chances are waterproof casings are available for it. Most major manufacturers offer custom waterproof cases, but for those that don’t there are products like the Ewa-Marine Waterproof case, essentially a watertight plastic sleeve with a fitting for your lens, and access to all of the camera’s buttons.

Tips for Shooting and Camera Maintenance

• If you are using a waterproof casing for your camera, make sure all of the seals are intact and clean. If silica gel was included with your casing be sure to use it to treat the seals.

• As light passes through water, longer wavelengths are filtered out, so at a depth of just a few feet even bright reds and oranges look bluish-green. To correct for this you will want to use your flash, which will bring out the true colors of what you’re seeing.

• If you have the option of interchangeable lenses on your camera, go for a macro lens or a wide-angle lens, both of which allow you to focus at close distances.

• Many cameras offer ‘underwater scene’ modes that adjust the white balance to remove some of the blue cast that underwater images often have. If your camera does not have this setting you can get a similar effect by setting your white balance to ‘cloudy.’

• Set your camera to a fast ISO to compensate for the low light conditions you’re likely to be shooting in underwater. The higher the ISO the faster your shutter speed will be, allowing you to freeze motion.

• When you are finished shooting, rinse the casing in fresh water, and let it air dry.