Underwater Photography Technique, Tutorials & Tips

Thank you for visiting the Underwater Photography Guide, written by Scott Gietler. This online guide is a complete underwater photography tutorial for beginners and advanced photographers, full of underwater photography tips and examples. Please register, join our newsletter, Facebook group or follow us on Twitter. Feel free to ask questions and for feedback in our underwater photography forums.

What's New in the Underwater Photography Guide

 

Featured Artist: Cynthia Hankins

 

An insight into how Cynthia became successful

Introducing a new column; Featured Artist.  Gain a unique perspective from our featured underwater photographers.

 

Dive Destination: Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

 

An Underwater Photography Paradise in Indonesia

Planning a dive trip? Be sure to consider Wakatobi

Dive Resort in Southeast Sulawesi!

 

 

 

UWPG Anilao Workshop Participant Photos

 

Showcase of the winning Anilao shootout photos

Congratulations to all the participants of the 2011 UWPG

Anilao workshop! We hope to see you in Anilao in May, 2012!

 

Photo Essay: Diving Ambon, Indonesia

 

UWPG technical guru Bill Van Antwerp shares his photos

Get a feel for the various set-ups Bill used to capture his macro images from a recent muck-diving trip with Maluku Divers.

 

 

Story Behind the Shots: Douglas Hoffman

 

Douglas Hoffman shares his approach to shark images

Get an award-winning underwater photographer's perspective on what it takes to portray these apex predators in their environment.

 

Nautilus Explorer / Epson World Shootout Adventure

 

Join Todd Winner and Nautilus Explorer for this event!

Award-winning underwater photographer Todd Winner joins the Nautilus Explorer for the ultimate white shark experience and a chance to win fabulous prizes August 3rd – 8th 2011.

 

 

Long Beach Scuba Show 2011

 

Underwater Photography Guide covers the show

Innovative products, great deals on diving vacations, and

lots of visitors helped make the show a success.

 

Photo Competition: Monterey Shootout

 

Register today for the 30th Annual Monterey Shootout

This fantastic event includes seminars, a film festival, video

and underwater photography competition, and much, much more!

 

 

Dive Travel: The Importance of Making a List

 

This is a must-read before your next dive adventure

Ridlon Kiphart (aka Sharkman) shares his extensive

knowledge of underwater photography travel, as well as

some pro tips!

 

 

 

EcoWeek Costa Rica: August 13-19, 2011

 

Celebration of the Environment and Culture of Costa Rica

Receive a special discount for being an UWPG reader!

 

 Advanced photographers should check out the extensive underwater composition course, with many tutorials and lessons on various tips, techniques & scenarios.

Most popular chapters of the Underwater Photography Guide:

• Beginner's Guide
  • Underwater photography basics, tips and instructional videos for the beginner underwater photographer
• Underwater Camera Selection Guide
  • Best choices for digital Compacts and dSLR cameras. Comparison charts of cameras
• Lens Selection Guide for underwater
  • Best lenses for digital underwater photography, including Nikon, Canon, Olympus & comparison charts. Here's a page on Inon Wet Lenses.
• Camera Settings Underwater
  • Exposure, aperture, shutter speed, ISO, Raw vs Jpeg, Macro & Wide-angle setting
• Underwater Lighting
  • Strobes, strobe position diagrams, backscatter, filters, color, ambient light, hot spots, getting good blues, underwater flashes
• Dive Destinations
  • The best dive destinations for underwater photography
• Basic Underwater Composition
  • Composition Tips, Rule of thirds, diagonal lines, artistic shots, sunbursts, sharks
• Special Underwater Compositions
  • Close-focus wide angle, silhouettes, wrecks, reflections, black & white, Snell's window, with tips and technique
• Black Backgrounds
  • How to achieve black backgrounds, including settings, tips and strobe position
• Creative Underwater Shooting
  • Blue backgrounds, panning, zooming, backlighting, rear curtain sync
• Artistic Underwater Compositions
  • Using colors, patterns, textures, selective colorization and special digital effects for artistic compositions
• Supermacro Underwater Photography
  • Equipment for supermacro photography including technique, tips, wet and dry diopters, teleconverters, and lens choices
• Shooting Great Underwater Macro Photographs
  • Choosing subjects, composition, tips, the right moment, lighting, and settings

• Wide-Angle Underwater Photography
  • Technique, settings, equipment, subject choices, underwater photography tips and examples
• Fish Photography
  • Guide to photographing fish underwater
• Photographing Marine Life Behavior
  • Feeding, mating, cleaning, laying eggs, fighting, predation
• Underwater Housing Maintenance
  • Setup, o-rings, floods, on the boat, cleaning lenses 

• Underwater Photography Tips
  • Over 60 underwater photography tips for beginners and advanced photographers. Here's our underwater video tips.