Black is a colour that is timeless and can be used for any and every occasion. You could never go wrong with black. The same goes if you are taking photos underwater. It is used for macro and for a few reasons, two of which is if the visibility is poor and if the surroundings of the animal is horrible. Here are five tips to achieve a black background in underwater photography.
1. Setting Your Aperture
With the sun out, one thing that would help you tremendously, is first to shut light out. By closing the aperture, you have gotten closer to your goal. Remember, the bigger the number the more light is shut out. This on a compact camera is usually f8 and on a DSLR is f22.
2. Shoot UP
It is alot easier to get a black background by shooting upward to the water column. This allows for less reflecting on other things that may not turn completely black. Hence, the golden rule, always shoot upwards applies.
3. Lighting
I would say a strobe, but using a torch or even the internal flash (on compact), actually can create great black backgrounds. Positioning the strobe to the subject makes the black background alot easier to achieve and also with closing the aperture, you will need the lighting. However, using lighting you are in control.
4. Shutter Speed
Apart from closing the aperture, speeding up the shutter speed is a must, limiting again light from entering. Using a fast shutter speed will help prevent the ambient light but also allowing for your controlled lighting to create the magic.
5. Practice Makes Perfect
Practicing these techniques makes you even better at knowing what works and what does not for you as well as different subjects and their environment. Do not be discouraged if at first you come out will pitch dark photos first few times. It only means you need to keep pushing and just aim you light a bit more on the subject.
Thank you for reading and Let me know if these tips worked for you in the comment section!