Underwater photography is an exhilarating hobby that seems to be an easy switch for any experienced photographer, but underwater photography has some challenges that are related to the environment and require from you a little adjustment to get a high quality of photos.

Underwater photography seems like photography on land in that you must understand the role of light to be able to correctly compose your images. In this article, you will take a look at the three common light challenges that will face underwater photographers.

The 3 Light Challenges that Face Underwater Photographers 

The 3 light challenges that face underwater photographers include the following:

• Refraction.
• Light Absorption.
• Color Absorption.

Refraction 

Light bends when passing from one medium to another in a phenomenon known as refraction. The process of refraction occurs when the light that is traveling through water passes through glass and air of the underwater camera just causes the objects to appear approximately larger by 25% and Little closer than they really are. 

It’s very important to understand this effect especially if you have a camera with autofocus features, as refraction will make it very difficult to focus on an item, giving you blurry images at the end.

Underwater cameras that have infrared autofocus assist will work well underwater, while those with laser rangefinders will have problems related to focusing and will give you blurry pictures. 

Ensure that the lens of your camera always focuses at Infinity or just use a camera that has a manual focus sitting. Always remember to keep the 25% magnification into consideration while composing your shots to avoid blur and distortion.

Light Absorption 

Water can be considered a great natural light filter as the deeper the light travels through the water, the more light is absorbed through it. The general formula for light loss is that half of the Light is lost every 10 meters deep.

You will have about 50% of the light on the surface at 10 meters deep and just 25% of this light at 20 meters deep, etc…

Actually, your available light will change according to the time of day. The time between 10:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. is considered the best hours for shooting underwater, as this is the time when the sun is directly overhead and the surface of the water is reflecting the least amount of light.

Weather also plays an essential role in the available light. If you are scuba diving in stormy, choppy water, this will significantly impact the underwater light conditions. 

Water clarity has a great impact on how much light you are getting on the items you will shoot. If you will rely on natural light, it’s better to stay within 0-10 meters. If you go deeper, you will surely need a strobe to illuminate the area you will shoot in.

Color Absorption 

When we talk about underwater photography, color absorption is considered the most frustrating light challenge, as underwater photos display no hues except blue and green. 

This is because the hues of yellow, red and orange have short wavelengths of light that are quickly absorbed in water and almost disappear below 10 feet deep. Blue and green have significantly longer wavelengths that can reach further depths. At 80 ft deep, blue is the only color before everything turns black while diving deeper.

Using color-correcting filters is the most common and cheap way to deal with dull colors in your images. But remember that these filters can only enhance the colors that actually present in the available light, as they can’t add colors because there is no enough light to illuminate them and the filter itself also reduces that amount of light, so this makes it very suitable for very shallow waters.

Another common way to deal with the problem of color absorption in underwater photography is the strobe. You will find that most strobes have adjustable settings that make you control the light output for each image.

That gives you at the end the opportunity to create the perfect light in every shot. It’s better to get too close to the items you will shoot to reduce the distance that the light has to travel and in turn increase the efficacy of the strobe unit.