Starting in shallow water

Learning goal

Without scuba training or a strobe setup, with only a mask, a snorkel and a simple waterproof case, you will be able to shoot your first underwater frames in water close to the surface where light is plentiful. You will make the shifting light pattern the sun draws on the sand as it passes through the wavy surface the subject of the frame. You will build the frame that shows above the water in one half and below it in the other, and manage the difference in light between the two halves. You will learn to get close to the subject with a safe, short dive down from the surface, and never to do it alone. You will notice a person standing half above and half below the water taking on two different colors in their skin, and make a decision.

The question

The instructor takes your friend not to the dive boat but to the village beach. Each of them has a mask and a snorkel in hand; your friend's phone is inside a simple waterproof case. The water is from knee-deep to chest-deep, the bottom white sand, the sun overhead. Your friend is surprised: where are the strobes, the arms, the housing, everything they have been talking about for a week? The instructor tells them to look down from the water's surface. Can photography with a snorkel really be a beginning?

Context

At the start of this track you saw that red is the first color to disappear in water, and that the loss grows as the path light takes gets longer (Lesson W.1). In the equipment lesson you met the half-sphere-shaped glass at the front of the housing, the dome port, and how a flat glass magnifies the image (Lesson W.2). In the underwater light lesson you also learned that the flash brings back lost colors only on nearby subjects, and that in shallow water without flash a color filter works (Lesson W.4).

The common conclusion of these three lessons points to shallow water: in water close to the surface the water path is short, the sun hasn't yet lost its red, and colors live without any need for flash. That is why many underwater photographers' first frames are shot not on a boat, but on a beach.

Simple explanation

What is the pattern on the sand?

Caustics are the constantly moving network of bright lines that sunlight forms on the bottom or on a surface as it refracts passing through the wavy surface. Every small wave behaves like a lens and gathers the light at some points and thins it at others. In shallow, clear water, with the sun high and the surface slightly wavy, it takes its most vivid form on white sand; as the water deepens and clouds come, it fades.

Caustics are a gift of shallow water and can be a subject in themselves: on the sand together with a starfish, a shell or a swimmer's shadow. Because the pattern changes very fast, burst shooting helps; a short shutter speed freezes the lines sharply. When the network falls on a swimmer's skin, it paints the body with bright and dark stripes; on dark skin the bright lines bring out detail, while on light skin the brightest lines blow out easily, and the exposure is protected according to those lines.

Can both above and below the water be in the same frame?

An over-under shot is a frame in which the waterline in front of the lens divides the frame in two, showing above the water in one half and below it in the lower half at the same time: above, a boat or the shore; below, sand, a school of fish or a swimmer's legs. A wide dome port is the most suitable for this frame; it can be tried with a flat case too, but the line is harder to hold. The dome shows the waterline crossing the frame with a soft curve, and the camera is held half submerged, steady.

There is a big difference in light between the two halves: above the water is lit by the sun, below it by less, bluer light coming through the water. The exposure is usually set for the underwater half and the sky above stays a little bright; putting the sun behind you reduces the difference. The skin of a person half in the water also splits into two colors: the shoulders above the water warm and sunny, the body below bluish and pale. This difference isn't a mistake to correct, but the water itself; still, which half the face stays in is a decision made before the shoot.

How do you get close to the subject?

A duck dive is the movement in which a snorkeler swimming at the surface bends at the waist, puts their head down and raises their legs, and goes down short and steep with their own weight. Photography with a snorkel is usually done by looking down from the surface, but to get close to a creature at the foot of a rock, a duck dive of a few seconds is enough. On the way down the pressure in the ears is equalized; the frame is shot, and you return calmly to the surface.

Every breath-hold dive, even if short and shallow, is done by rules. You never snorkel alone; a buddy stays at the surface and watches the one diving. Before the dive, fast, deep breaths aren't taken one after another, because this can lead to unnoticed loss of consciousness underwater. Where there is boat traffic, a colored surface buoy is carried, and the current and wind are asked about before getting into the water. A frame isn't worth lengthening a dive for.

Visual evidence

In chest-deep water the instructor shows your friend the caustics on the sand. Looking down from the surface, with burst shooting, your friend shoots the bright lines passing over a starfish. In one of the frames the lines draw the starfish's arms one by one, the sand is white, and the red and orange colors are vivid without flash.

Then the instructor shoots an over-under shot with their dome-port housing. Your friend stands in water up to their waist, their back to the sun. In the upper half of the frame are the village's white houses and their shoulders, in the lower half the sand and their legs. Your friend's dark skin is warm and sunny above the water, bluish below it; the instructor lowers the camera a little so the face stays entirely in the upper half.

Finally, while the instructor watches from the surface, your friend goes down with a duck dive to a small school of fish at the foot of a rock. Within a few seconds they shoot two frames and return calmly to the surface. In the frame the school is a few arm's lengths away, the water clear and blue; your friend says, laughing, that they fit all of a week's lessons into a single morning.

Common mistakes

Summary

To start underwater photography, the most light and the shortest water path are in water close to the surface: the caustics the sun draws on the sand, the over-under shot that shows above and below the water in the same frame, and subjects approached with a short duck dive give vivid colors even without flash. Every breath-hold dive is done with a buddy and a calm breath, and in a body split in two in an over-under shot, which half the face stays in is chosen before the shoot.

Mini assignment

The underwater track's closing project is in this assignment: taking your mask, snorkel and waterproof case or housing, you will prepare a small five-frame series on a shallow shore.

1. Before getting into the water, write a safety plan: who is your buddy, what are the current and wind like, is there boat traffic, where is the return point; shoot a skin reference frame of your buddy in the sun, before the water.
2. Shoot five frames: a caustics frame, an over-under shot, a close subject approached with a duck dive, a portrait of your buddy in the water with their agreement, and a wide frame showing the place.
3. Edit the frames' colors by comparing your buddy's skin with the reference from before the water; write two sentences at the start of the series about what water does to light.

Check yourself

• Were your safety plan and your buddy ready before you got into the water, and were you not alone in any frame?
• In the over-under shot, was the exposure set for the underwater half, and is the face in the half you wanted?
• Looking at the reference frame, is your buddy's skin close to its true color?

Glossary

Mini quiz

1. When do caustics take their most vivid form?

• A) On a cloudy day, in deep water
• B) While the sun is high, in shallow, clear and slightly wavy water
• C) At night, with a flashlight
• D) At a moment when the water is completely still

2. In an over-under shot, what is the exposure usually set for?

• A) The underwater half
• B) The sky
• C) The sun itself
• D) The waterline itself

3. Why aren't fast breaths taken one after another before a snorkel dive?

• A) Because it fogs the mask
• B) Because it blocks the ears
• C) Because it can lead to unnoticed loss of consciousness underwater
• D) Because it scares the fish away

4. Why does the skin of someone standing half in the water split into two colors in an over-under shot?

• A) Because the case changes the color
• B) Because the camera uses two different white balances
• C) Because skin changes color in water
• D) Because the upper half is lit by the sun, the lower half by a blue light coming through the water

Answers

1. B — Strong sun and small waves gather the light on the sand and build lines.
2. A — The underwater half is darker; it is exposed for to protect its colors.
3. C — Fast breaths delay the body's warning to breathe and create risk.
4. D — Two separate lights light the two halves; this is a result of the water itself.

Summary card

• Water close to the surface: a short water path, plenty of sun, vivid color without flash.
• Caustics: the sun high, the water shallow and clear, burst shooting, protect the bright lines.
• Over-under shot: a dome port, exposure for underwater, the sun behind, which half is the face in?
• Duck dive: short, calm, with your buddy watching at the surface.
• Never swim alone; no fast breathing before a dive.

End of the series

With this lesson the underwater track, and with it the program's reading order, comes to an end. The journey began with the idea that the camera catches not a thing but the light returning from that thing to our eye; here, in an environment where light disappears a little more with every meter, it returns to the same idea: what makes a red sponge visible is the light that reaches it. In between you worked on exposure, the lens, color, composition, managing light, editing and building a project from start to finish; on the tracks you also carried this knowledge from portraits to architecture, from the street to the air and under the water. What comes after is returning to a track you choose and deepening it, or building your own project that follows a subject for months. Whichever you choose, keep asking the same question in every shoot: in this frame, where does the light come from, what does it strike, and how much of it reaches me?