Let there be Light - Basic Principles Of Light Underwater

Got a case of the Blues or Greens?

Let's talk about some basic principles of light underwater and how to put a little light on the subject. Are your images a little blue or in my case a little green? Depending on where your living or creating images you may have run into this problem.

No strobe, in tropical water.

No strobe in temperate water.

Have you been wondering why the amazing colours from your dive never made it into your images? If you’re not using the appropriate strobes, or not using your strobes properly to light your subjects, your images will quite literally take on a bluish or greenish hue.

It's all good, this is a common problem that is easily fixed.

Sorry a little learning section - Water absorbs light very quickly due to the fact that water is exponentially denser than air – approximately 800 times denser to be fairly precise. Not only does this result in dull, monotone colors, but it also decreases contrast and image sharpness.

Specific frequencies of ambient light get absorbed at different depths, from the longest wavelength to shortest (basically the colors of the rainbow, remember ROYGBIV?). Red nearly disappears at around 5 meters, followed by orange at 10 meters, yellow at 20 meters, green at 30 meters and eventually even blue at 60 meters.

credit: http://www.lymanlures.com/pyramid-lake-report-april-24/ - I have no affiliation with this site but I really liked their design of this visual aid.

Ok, back to the fun stuff.

New and less experienced underwater photographers often get frustrated from the blue / gray hue of their images - a direct result of the properties of water and the effect of light absorption.

Right, so how do I fix this?

Due to this colour loss underwater, you must compensate in some way. This is accomplished by using artificial light in the form of strobes (flashes for you land people out there), and in some scenarios can be accomplished with the addition of filters attached to your lens.

This images can not be created with the use of strobes. Giant Manta feeding at night, Kona Hawaii.

Strobes emit daylight-balanced light that help to paint the color back into your images, create contrast, accentuate textures and retain details. Sometimes strobes are used to fill in light where shadows dominate, while in other instances strobes provide the key lighting for your image.

With the use of a strobe in tropical waters.

Light is the most important aspect of an image and adding light helps create a feel or a desired effect with an image. Strobes are that tool of underwater and arguably the best investment you can make to improve your underwater photography.

Thanks for reading. If you have any question please let me know. Let the light shine down, and up and all around.

Scott

For more stories and images - http://www.scottstevensonphotography.ca/