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How to take amazing underwater photos
To take great underwater photos you don’t need a fancy camera or expensive gear. Using just your phone and other handy gadgets, this guide will show you how to take underwater photos like a pro.
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Prepare to go under
Before jumping into the water and starting to snap away, make sure you’re prepared. There is nothing worse than getting down there and realising you don’t know how the settings of your phone work, or how to snap a photo quickly while getting the focus right.
Here are some basic settings for your phone camera to make sure you take great underwater photos:
- Base ISO
- Shutter Speed 1/1000
- Turn on camera flash
- If you have a special mode for underwater photography, use it. (I use the Huawei P30 Pro and it has a specific Underwater Mode)
Waterproof phone cases
Almost every major phone company also makes waterproof cases. If it’s not made by the manufacturers directly, a quick Google search or look on Amazon will turn up results in seconds.
To make your life easier, here’s a list of great waterproof phone cases for the main phone brands:
- Tip: Always use a waterproof phone case!
The right lighting
Lighting underwater is very different to the general daylight we’re used to.
With every meter below the surface, the light looses more and more colour, which is why underwater photos always have a grey-ish hue if you’re not using a filter.
Editing your underwater photos
When you see your underwater photos on your camera, they look quite grey and colourless.
Because of the different qualities of light underwater, editing those kinds of photos requires a different process than above water images.
Follow these simple steps when editing your photos:
- Adjust the White Balance. That's what makes colours look natural, and underwater photos tend to have a grey-ish hue.
- Reduce noise. It removes elements like tiny particles floating in the water which can be visible in your images. Just make sure not to increase noise reduction too much, or the picture will become blurry.
- Sharpen the image.
- Adjust Colour Balance. Do that for each colour separately, and keep in mind that depending on the depth at which the picture was taken, different colours lose vibrance and saturation.
- Remove any impurities with the Select Healing Brush.
Helpful gear to take your underwater photos to the next level
If you want to experiment a little more with underwater photography, there is some very helpful hear out there.
Gimbals and other stabilizing devices
A gimbal is essentially a device that stabilises your phone, but the term also refers to a simple handle you can attach your phone to.
That, and other stabilizing devices such as rigs, ensure your camera is held steady in underwater currents.
Underwater domes
Everyone knows the domes to create photos that look like they’ve been taken half under, half above water. Those exist for phones too! Simply attach them to your phone and hold it so half the dome is above, and half is below the water surface.
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Hi, I’m Nadine
Part-time traveler with full-time wanderlust.
I explore the world one weekend and one vacation at a time and share my experiences, travel and photography tips, and food recs on this blog.
I believe the answer to (almost) any question is traveling.
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