Happy Snapping

We’ve been writing for the Tribune for a while now, and thought it would be a good time to write about something that would interest scuba divers, photographers and videographers, so pretty much all of us. It’s been years since anybody has taken photos with a film camera. Technology has moved on so much that we can now view a photo immediately and decide if we want to keep it or not. Most land cameras can have a case made for them called a ‘housing’ so you can use them underwater.

My camera needs a waterproof housing, but some of the newer models you can use in the pool and take snorkelling without any protection at all!!! I’ve taught skills to children in the pool with their parents filming, giving them a great memory of that first underwater breath. Probably the equivalent of my parents filming me bathing in a plastic tub with a rubber duck, except the quality now is better than just different shades of yellow!! Those cameras are fantastic fun but only to about 5m, and they don’t have a white balance function which is crucial to taking great underwater photos.

So, what is white balance? Every reader of this article should have a white balance function on their cameras, but what is it for? Well, as we descend into the ocean, we lose colour.

The suns ray is distracted and the water absorbs colour. By taking a white slate down on our dive, we can point our camera at it and set the ‘white balance’ at each depth. This way, our photos don’t look blue/green as the camera is clever enough to adjust its colours in conjunction to the light that depth. I actually don’t like to carry too much with me when I dive, so I just roll the leg of my wetsuit or shorts up and use my thigh instead of a white slate. My thighs rarely see the sun, so it works perfectly! An alternative especially for close up still shots is to use a strobe or high powered flash. Ideal for nudibranches and seahorses, just turn off the white balance and let the artificial light do the work for you.

The key to taking great photo’s are good buoyancy skills and an understanding of your camera. When I get a new camera, I practice taking photo’s on land 1st, ensuring I know where all the settings are and how to use them. Once you have your camera mastered on land you are ready to go diving with it.

Underwater cameras vary in price from $200 to whatever you want to spend. I have a small digital camera, as like I said, I don’t like diving with a ton of equipment and it is great. Used correctly, you can get some great quality photos and videos from them.
There are disposable cameras for use underwater, but these do not have white balance on them, but any memory of your dive is better than none.

A friend of mine who loves gadgets came diving with us last year in a mask camera! It looked like a James Bond accessory with 2 lights on each side of his head and a something in the middle that looked like a gun sight. It also took video’s, but the quality was poor as the white balance couldn’t be set. The boy was happy with his toy though and that was all that mattered.