Composition in Underwater Photography

An introduction to properly composing your shots

By Scott Gietler

What do you want included in a photo? What do you want left out? What idea do you want your photo to convey? As your underwater photography progresses, you will put more thought into what you want your photograph to convey. 

Composition is an art, not a science. These rules and ideas for composition are meant to give you ideas for how to creatively compose your shots, not to lock you into rigid rules. the best composition for a subject will depend on your personal preferences.

As your underwater photography progresses, good composition will become more natural and intuitive. However, even experienced photographers can benefit from trying new compositional ideas.

If you are a beginner to composition, you should watch this composition video tutorial.

Underwater Composition Topics Covered:
 

This chapter covers many topics, such as the following:

• Composition for beginners
• Macro and wide angle compositions
• Diagonal & Leading lines, S-curves, Golden spirals
• Sunballs
• Silhouettes
• Wrecks
• Rule of thirds
• Black and White Underwater Photography
• Black backgrounds
• Artistic shots
• Panning
• Over-unders
• Snell's window
• Creative underwater shooting
• Reflections
• Backlighting
• Photographing Sharks
• Photographing Nudibranchs
• Photographing Silvery Fish
• Natural light shots near the surface
• Face-on macro composition

and much more.

There are many photographic examples with explanations and settings.