Alex Mustard’s latest book 52 Assignments: Underwater Photography is packed with great tips to improve your technique. Here are three of the assignments to get you going.
ASSIGNMENT 1: AVAILABLE LIGHT FANTASTIC
Your task for this assignment is to photograph in available light, and I don’t mind what you shoot. Available light suits shallow coralscapes, kelp and seaweed forests, big animals, pelagic action, wrecks, freedivers, and more. Your goal is to make strong compositions, unencumbered by using flash.
When I suggest on my workshops that photographers dedicate their next dive to shooting in available light, and leave their underwater flashguns on the boat, it always gets an unenthusiastic reaction. A hand inevitably goes up, followed by a ‘What if I see…?’ question.
Fear of missing out affects us all. Ironically, photographers concerned about missing a shot lose far more by skipping the challenge, because few things will improve you more as an underwater photographer than a few dives shooting with only available light.
Underwater light is very different to that on land. The height of the sun in the sky, clouds, sea state, visibility, and depth all impact on the photographic characteristics of light underwater. The more time you spend working with available light, the better placed you are to exploit it, even when also using flash in your images.
So, while I hope you get some stunning available-light images, the reward of this assignment is more in the skills and knowledge you accumulate.
When you review your images, consider how they would have been different with the use of flash.
TIPS
The direction of light has a massive impact on the look of your shots. Shoot with the light on your back for the best colour in detail, and work across or against it for contrast and shadow.
Without the instant burst of flash to freeze movement, keep your shutter speed at 1/90th of a second or faster.
Auto-exposure modes do work with available light, but I suggest shooting in Manual mode, as underwater light is consistent and you will do less work dialling in Manual than constantly fiddling with the EV to get your auto exposure to be correct on different scenes.
Underwater light comes down mainly from above, so pointing the camera upward or downward has a big impact on the look of your shots. Point down for colour and detail, point up for shadow and contrast.
Plants such as kelp and seaweeds look their best backlit by the sun, so shoot from their shadow side towards the light to get them to light up. This is much more effective than trying to light them with your flashes.
- Looking for more? Check out award-winning underwater photographer Jenny Stock’s review of 52 Assignments: Underwater Photography
ASSIGNMENT 28: SIMPLE IS STRONG
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, the author of The Little Prince, famously said, ‘Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.’ His words are an excellent guiding principle for macro photography, especially underwater, which is regularly characterised by a riot of life.
The challenge of simplifying your compositions is the theme of this macro assignment. Shoot and then carefully review each photo, asking yourself if every element is contributing. If it isn’t, get rid of it. Simple images are always eye-catching – and very popular on social media.
In macro photography, there are a host of techniques for simplifying images. Perhaps the easiest is framing a subject against open water, creating a clean black background. A similar effect can be achieved with a snoot.
For this assignment, however, the simplifying technique is to use a shallow depth of field to blur any distractions. In macro shooting, this can be achieved by opening the aperture or moving closer, if only by a small amount – macro photographers often overlook how powerfully depth of field can be reduced by increasing subject magnification.
Also, consider how the position of the subject in its environment impacts its photographic potential. It is common to encounter several individuals of a species on a dive, but one may offer far more potential than the others because where it lives will have an impact on how the rest of the frame will photograph.
TIPS
- There is no magical aperture setting for achieving the optimum depth of field in macro shooting. Instead, the best approach is to shoot, review, and adjust until you achieve the desired effect
- Don’t get fixated on the subject when framing and reviewing your shots. Remember to consider the negative space and adjust your composition, lighting, and settings to optimise the entire frame for a stand-out shot.
ASSIGNMENT 51: TELL A STORY
There are lots of photographers who can take a beautiful picture, but far fewer who can create images that communicate and tell a story. For this assignment, I want you to become a photojournalist and build a narrative across five images.
This is likely to take several dives and utilise several different lenses and photographic techniques.
The first step is to decide on a topic. You might choose to describe a shipwreck, reveal the secrets of a species, or simply tell the story of a dive.
Avoid repetition, with each image focusing on a different aspect of the story. For a wreck, you could shoot an atmospheric image, then a big shot of the bow, a close-up of an interesting artefact, some marine life living on the wreck, and a diver exploring.
Shooting a nudibranch, you could start with a stunning head-on portrait, then a mating shot or egg-laying image, a hitch-hiking emperor shrimp, a wider shot showing a diver looking at the slug, and a close-up detail of rhinophore or the colour pattern.
Reportage of a dive might start with a split of divers jumping in, then the reef with the boat above, divers encountering marine life, and some close-ups of marine life, and finish with divers hanging onto a safety stop.
Brainstorm ideas before you dive. A magazine designer won’t use two similar images in a feature, so vary your style and approach. Shoot horizontals and verticals, macros and wide-angles, silhouettes and strong colours, classic and creative techniques.
That said, your images still need to be coherent, which is why top magazines typically get one photographer to shoot a story rather than buy stylistically unconnected shots from stock.
You should aim to produce more than twice the number of finished images you need and then reduce them down to the best five for the story.
Remember, you are not picking for social media or contests, so select the images that advance the narrative, even if they are not your favourite standalone shots.
TIPS
- Pick up a good magazine and look through the big features and analyse the photos in terms of content and technical variety. Think about what lenses have been used and how compositions advance the story.
- Photojournalism isn’t about producing five contest winners, but five images that fully explore and illustrate the topic.
52 Assignments: Underwater Photography by Alex Mustard, Ammonite Press, RRP £12.99, is available online and from all good bookshops. Contact websales@thegmcgroup.com if ordering from outside the UK.
As a special offer for DIVE readers, you can buy 52 Assignments: Underwater Photography from Gifts to Me for only £10.40 (+P&P)! Usual RRP £12.99. Visit giftstome.co.uk and use the offer code R5703. Offer ends 18 December 2024 (UK orders only).
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