Underwater Photography
The main problem with taking underwater photographs - is the water! Not only is it trying to get inside your camera to destroy it, water also absorbs colour selectively. At only twenty feet beneath the surface, reds appear dark green or black. At sixty feet there are no yellows. At one hundred and twenty feet you can only see blue. Moreover, there is a drastic reduction in light levels, and consequently contrast, due to absorption by the water and reflection of the available light from the water's surface.
In addition, water is never clear, minute animals and plants, silt and other particles are suspended in it. This limits the distance we can see at, but also fogs our photographs, making them fuzzy.
Solutions
Get close, so that what you photograph is at most two or three feet from the lens. Distortion caused by using wide-angle lenses is not a major problem as there are few straight lines underwater .
Stay close to the surface and take photographs when light levels are at their greatest - noon, or use an artificial light source in the form of an underwater strobe. Even if there is to be plenty of light you may still need a strobe to restore colour.
Pick your time, it's hardly worth taking out your camera if (a) the water is stormy, kicking up silt and other particulate to spoil clarity or (b) your site has just been dived over by large numbers of people, as they will do the same. Early dives with an artificial light source can be better for getting crisp images.
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