Index to Underwater Photography

Underwater Photography

An essential course in underwater photography,
with theory, tips, examples and technical solutions.
By Dr J Floor Anthoni (1997-2005)
www.seafriends.org.nz/phgraph/index.htm

This is an extensive and essential course in underwater photography, bringing together in one place all the known theory, extensive hands-on experience, many examples, tips and technical solutions, without going into commercial details. Taking photos under water is one of the most difficult branches of photography because the underwater world has such strange optical properties and is rather taxing on the photographer himself. By mastering the advice provided in this large primer, you will enhance your chances of success considerably, resulting in more enjoyment. Why re-invent the wheel? Welcome and good Luck!

History		Important dates in the history of underwater photography. (on this page)
Introduction		Why would you like to take pictures under water? What knowledge, experience and skills do you need? What equipment? How do you manage your precious resources? How do weather, waves and wind affect your results? - and more general information. (12 pages)
Film and lens		What kind of film should you choose or are you going digital? How can images be manipulated and saved for posterity? What kind of lens to use? What effects to expect? (10 pages)
Water and light		How is the quality of the sunlight affected by the water and how does this affect under water photography? What are the techniques to capture both colour and under water mood? How to reduce scatter? Which are the best camera angles? (10 pages)
Mixed light		A help light such as a strobe or a movie light is often necessary to overcome the limitations of ambient light. This mixed lighting is often misunderstood, resulting in poor results. How can we use the colourful light of the strobe without destroying the underwater atmosphere afforded by ambient light? How to control your strobe light? (11 pages)
Macro		Theory, technique and practice of macrophotography, enlarging the miniature world and getting really close. Aquarium photography. (12 pages)
Opportunities		Recognise the opportunities offered by the topography of the environment. How should you behave to maximise your luck? How to organise your diving.?(11 pages)
Nikonos cameras		The Nikonos RS camera has changed underwater photography forever and still is an awesome tool. Try to understand what you need in an underwater camera and how to use it. (9 pages)
Tips&Tricks		A look at photographic gear and how to adapt it to your needs. O-rings, brackets, connectors, cables, lights. Don't be afraid to make your own. (in prep)
Digital Darkroom part2 part3		Digital computer techniques have given us the sophisticated tools to make better images after shooting the film. This chapter teaches you the ins and outs of colour theory, colour spaces, digital photo processing, scanning, cleaning up, adapting contrast and tone, sharpening and blurring, compacting your images and much more. You will disadvantage yourself by missing out. (32 pages in 3 parts)
movie&video		In addition to a thorough understanding of underwater photography as explained above, the movie maker must master a number of other faculties. Making a movie does not consist of just taking moving pictures. (4 pages)
Supporting documents		Here are some supporting documents found on this web site: unsharp.htm: Solving wide angle unsharpness: calibrating a Super8 camera using Anthoni's illusive depth scale and a program to make one. (6 pages) A printable version of the illusive depth scale (250KB) (1 page) A sharpness scale for video: vidsharp.gif (250KB) (1 page)
More reading		References to worthwhile books about underwater photography (on this page)
What's new?		Recent additions and changes to this photographic section (on this page).
Photo library		Visit our photographic stock library of selected photographs which contains but a small part of the images available from our photographic stock. E-mail us for specific requests. (separate section and growing)
World links		Photography Resources - Explore photography through the internet following this rich tapestry of links. Seapix - A basic underwater photography course and many pictures and links Bjorn Jensen - Under water photos, links and a printable basic underwater photography course. Underwater Photography Handbook - www.underwaterphotography.com. 'The global reference point for underwater photography, the main interface with u/w photo equipment manufacturers.' UWP Underwater Photography web magazine by Peter Rowlands. Interesting and well done, with top-class photos. www.stephen-frink.com Stephen Frink's web site www.uwphotographyguide.com practical advice from Scott Gietler, a keen UW photographer https://www.jenreviews.com/how-to-make-a-documentary/ How to make documentaries, a review by Jen Miller

Please e-mail the author for suggestions and corrections. Read tips for printing.
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Important dates in the history of underwater photography
It's good to know what went before. Here is a list of events that were important to the history of underwater photography.

1828: Charles Deane and his brother John invented a dive helmet to which a suit was secured with straps.
1837: Augustus Siebe sealed the Deane brothers' diving helmet to a watertight, air-containing rubber suit.
1850s: German inventor William Bauer takes pictures through the portholes of a submarine he built for the Russian navy
1856: William Thompson takes poor quality photos of seaweed with a primitive underwater camera near Weymouth, England.
1860s: French photographer Ernest Bazin takes photos from a diving bell (1860s).
1865: first self-contained diving equipment with 'open air circulation' by Rouquayrol Denayrouze for diving to 50m.
1870s: Eadweard Muybridge, famous for his chrono-photography of moving subjects, takes underwater photos in San Francisco Bay.
1893: Louis Boutan, a French scientist uses a 'zero-pressure' underwater camera with a compressible air bladder, a principle still used today for large cameras in shallow water. Frame size: 5x7". Exposure time: 30 minutes!
1895: systematic experiments by the Frenchman Boutan with 8x10"studio cameras and flash light constructed by Chaufour, a magnesium-coated ribbon within a glass sphere with oxygen.
1899: first underwater photographs by Louis Boutan in depths below 45m, utilising waterproof arc lamps for illumination!
1900s: Jack Williamson uses a large submersible sphere containing both the cameraman and cameras. It was used for filming Jules Verne's 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1913)
1910s: Francis Ward photographs freshwater pikes, otters, frogs and diving water birds.
1915: John Ernest Williamson makes history's first underwater movie in which he kills a shark.
1915: Commander Frederick Young of the Royal Navy developed an underwater camera for the British Admiralty Salvage Department.
1927: National Geographic publishes the first underwater color still photographs made by ichthyologist Dr. William Longly and staff photographer Charles Martin in the Caribbean Sea. It was lit with magnesium powder on a specially constructed float.
1930: Dratz of the Toulon Naval Arsenal in France, improved military underwater photographic equipment.

1933 - Yves Le Prieur modified the Rouquayrol-Denayrouse invention by combining a demand valve with a high pressure air tank to give the diver complete freedom from hoses and lines.
1934: Le Prieur invents self-contained cameras for still and movie in black and white and colour.

1935 American Fenimore Johnson uses the self sealing principle in his commercially produced underwater cameras, Ardmore Pennsylvania.
1936: Dr Hofmann (Munich, Germany) explores Lake Constance, photographing the lake's bottom at depths of 240m using an automatic photographic bathysphere.
1937: Danish-American Niels Christensen invents the o-ring for sealing hydraulic equipment. It had a major effect on technology and facilitated the design of underwater housings.

1939: Dr E N Harvey and Edward R Baylor (USA) photograph small organisms at 1260m depth.
1941: US Navy and British Admiralty begin extensive photographic underwater projects for salvage operations, hull inspection, demolition and underwater intelligence.

1943: Jacques-Yves Cousteau and Emile Gagnan invent the underwater lung which frees divers from surface-supplied air.
1943-1945: tremendous increases in underwater still and movie activities. New equipment designed in England by Chesterman, Collins and Hodges. In France by Le Prieur and Cousteau.
1948: first successful photographs at 360m by the US Atlantic Expedition, using remote controlled magnesium flash.
1949: Hans Hass develops in co-operation with the German company Franke & Heidecke the famous Rolleimarin underwater housing for a double-lens reflex Rollei 6x6cm camera. It became the most successful underwater camera of its time, later replaced by the single-lens reflex (SLR) Hasselblad.

1950s: Harold E. Edgerton (famous for the stroboscope and multi-flash exposures) and French explorer Jacques Cousteau develop sophisticated deep sea cameras to take photographs of the deep sea bottom.
1952: Dimitri Rebikoff earns a Scientific Film Award at the International Film Festival in Cannes for his colour newsreel Color Palace.
1953-54: Full length underwater feature movies Under the twelve mile reef, Hunters of the deep, Moby Dick, Under water, I photographed the seven seas, and many others.
1954: Dr Harold Edgerton (MIT, USA) devops an underwater still camera with electronic strobe.
1955: Captain J Y Cousteau produces The Silent World, bringing underwater mysteries to a large audience.
1957: the Belgian inventor Jean de Wouters makes the CalypsoPhot, the first waterproof 35mm amphibic camera that can be used both above and under water. It came on the market in 1961.
1962: Life magazine photographers Elgin Ciampi and Peter Stackpole use plexiglass underwater housings.
1963: the Nikon camera company develops the CalypsoPhot further and releases the Nikonos I, first in a long line of 35mm amphibic cameras, the IVA with TTL light metering (1980) and ending with the V in 1984. The Nikonos has watertight exchangeable lenses of 80, 50, 35, 28 and 15mm and is still today a good expedition backup camera in case all else fails due to dust, dew, moisture or ice.
1964: IITRI and Rebikoff develop a corrected wide angle lens for the Nikonos camera, 28mm in air and 37mm in water.
1970: Optical Sciences Division of the US Naval Research Laboratory develops a new water-flooded camera.
1971: Lockheed (USA) develops the DSRV-1, a rescue vehicle for 1000m depth, complete with elaborate photographic and television equipment.
1973: Dr Alexander Ivanoff (Sorbonne, France) develops a new universal wide angle correcting lens for up to 105 degrees. It was extensively used for offshore oil explorations.
1974: Nikon reveals their 15mm water-corrected wide angle lens for Nikonos cameras.

1992: the Nikonos RS 35mm SLR camera for depths to 100m, with an extensive set of very high quality underwater lenses, sets the standard. It is taken off the market in 1996 due to poor demand and internal restructuring at Nikon Japan.
2005: a large range of commercial underwater housings is available for nearly every make and type of still, movie and TV camera. Digital cameras of 6 megapixels have become readily available and with it their underwater housings, but underwater photos won't match the quality of those obtained above. Underwater photography remains a special skill.

More reading
(Titles in blue are available from the Seafriends library)

Update June 2015
With great sadness we discovered that most books of our library were given away to visitors, by the new management of Seafriends' business. The books mentioned in this section are no longer available. However, the Seafriends website remains and will hopefully be expanded.

Berwin, David and David Barber: Creative Techniques in Underwater Photography. 1982.
Church, Jim and Cathy: Beginning underwater photography.1972.
Church, Jim and Cathy: The Nikonos book. 1979.
Rebikoff, Dimitri and Paul Cherney: Underwater Photography. 1965, 1975, AMPHOTO New York.
Rozendaal, Ruud: Fotojacht onder de waterspiegel. (Dutch)1971.
Time-Life: Life library of photography. 16 volumes, 1970.
Townsend, Derek: Under water photography. 1971.
Wu, Norbert: How to photograph under water. 1994. Stackpole Books.

What's new?
What has been added or changed recently:

yyyymmdd
20070712 - The longest pages split into parts, for ease of access.
20060425 - Extensive additions to the timeline above and the Rebikoff-Ivanoff correction lens added.
20051108 - Suggestions from Mrs Myfanwy Borich applied to new chapters.
20051026 - Movie and video, essential knowledge for underwater moviemaking. (4p)
20051022 - Nikonos Cameras, what to expect of a good camera. Learn the limitations of digital. (9p)
20051017 - Advanced underwater macrophotography (12p) and how to calibrate your lens for unsharpness (7p)
20051013 - Opportunities chapter written (8p)
20051011 - All chapters revised and added to.
20051010 - Digital darkroom revised and smart sharpening/ blurring added and more.
20051008 - Time table of important discoveries added to this page.
20040226 - Small changes to all chapters. Camera angles added.
20031111 - A new large chapter on advanced digital darkroom techniques.
20020710 - All chapters updated. My mistakes. Controlling strobe exposure with the Nikonos RS.
20020111 - Notes on exposure added and exposure diagram redrawn.
20000811 - Started to put links in to other sites.
20000801 - Accurate light extinction figures by wavelength, added in the water and light chapter.
20000418 - Theoretical loss of light due to reflection added.
20000328 - Performance graph of lithium vs alkaline batteries added.
20000315 - Applied corrections suggested by Mrs Myfanwy Borich
20000301 - Wrote the difficult chapter about mixed light photography.
20000212 - Finally started to write this section after having been encouraged to do so by budding underwater photographers.