Hi Maureen here

I am a new member and have a canon G7 with an underwater housing. I am a novice snorkeller and so far my photography isnt good. I have tried the special scene with the automatic white balance with the underwater setting, my pictures are blured, not sharp and defined and as I havent learnt to duck dive am not close to the fish.  I have a 6x optical lens which when zoomed out distorted the photo. Should I use the manual setting or programme setting and put the ISO on 100 asa and use a histogram and not use the special scene mode. I also have an AV mode which I think sets the aperture and shutter speed automatically. I only snorkle in approx a 5 metre depth, I dont dive. Cant duck dive yet to get closer to the fish.

Hey Maureen,

welcome here in the forum. It is most important underwater to get as close as possible
to the subject. Therefore the 6x optical lens doesnt help a lot. Try to find an object you
would like to see in the foreground and get as close as possible. Try to shoot upwards.
If you only use available light you need to be in the water when the sun is high, as you
need as much light as you can get. In lower light conditions use a higher iso setting.

That would be my first suggestions.

ciao Lars

Hi Lars

I really appreciated your kind advice and reply. It was great. Should I use the automatic settings of special scene with the auto white balance feature and auto ISO or are the manual settings and setting the ISO myself better for underwater photo quality, or do I experiment with both as new to underwater photography and want to get the best quality photo posible. Thankyou for your welcome to.

Gidday Maureen, down under.

I would recommend to stick to manual settings and try experiment with it.
Try to stick with ISO 100 under good light conditions. Get into the water at
noon, when the sun is at its highest point and the reflection on the surface
is minimal. I would try to manual white balance underwater with a gray slate
or on sandy bottom if you have enough time. maybe you just snorkle down
on one breath make the white balance and then on the second breath take
the picture. Important: if you white manual white balance you need to shoot
in the same direction and the same depth as you did the white balance.
If you turn or are in a different depth the result can be oversaturation or
flat images..

hope that helps a bit..

ciao Lars

Lars - Maureen said in her OP that she can’t duck dive (i.e. snorkel down) yet.

Maureen - unfortunately, if you are shooting from the surface, your results are going to be very limited, if only from the point of view of composition (i.e. all your shots will be looking down at the reef / fish, which is one of the least satisfying compositions underwater, and which most texts on the subject advise you avoid).  So, if you can learn to duck dive, you are going to be in a much better place from which to shoot, enabling you to get low, and shoot up.

Have you considered learning to scuba dive?  That would enable you to get down amongst the fish, and take your time sorting out your camera settings and experiment with different combinations to see what works and what doesn’t.  Snorkelling involves alot less gear, and doesn’t require a certificate, and there are some u/w photographers who exclusively shoot whilst breath-hold diving (i.e. snorkelling), however they are generally very accomplished snorkellers able to duck dive for a good length of time (probably in excess of 1 minute).

Personally, I’m a pretty poor snorkeller - I can duck dive to 4m or so for a few seconds, but I’ve never managed to shoot any worthwhile pictures whilst doing so.

Anyway, camera settings.  I’m afraid I’m going to disagree with Lars on a couple of points.  In shallow depths, the automatic settings with underwater scene mode on your camera should do a perfectly good job.  Blurry images may be the result of camera movement, or the camera not getting a good focus lock.  Make sure you are letting the camera focus lock by half pressing the shutter button until the focus lock is achieved.  Then if the focus is on the subject you are interested in, finish the press of the shutter button to take the picture.  Try to keep the camera as still as possible, just as you do on land.  If you are bouncing about in waves on the surface, this is not an ideal situation!

Your example shot is a fairly wide angle shot, and demonstrates a difficulty of wide shots.  The background / far distance looks cloudy and fuzzy, due to the limits of visibility underwater.  If you are able to get down, and shoot upwards, instead of having the far distance in your shot, you will get the water surface, which is closer, and a distinct object, so the shot will appear much less cloudy and fuzzy.

Hope that helps

Hi Graham

Thankyou also for the excellent information and my venture is to learn to duck dive in the shallows as I fully appreciated your advice and Lars re shooting upward etc. I will get more proficient with the snorkel then I can really enjoy the beautiful marine life at Ningaloo Reef. I appreciated the time you and Lars gave and have taken notes.

Kind Regards
Maureen a Kiwi down under

Oh I’m sorry. I just didn’t read carefully about the duck dive…

ciao Lars