RSS - PostsDeep macro diving is awesome, shallow macro diving is better.
Surface swims–both out and back–save you gas in your cylinder and make for more photos. And more photos is better!
If you can’t see anything to shoot, go slower and closer to the bottom.
Whatever camera you use, back-button focus makes it better. Research how to do this for your camera type and practice it.
In photography, light is always the most important thing. In underwater photography, light is absolutely everything.
A good photographer with a compact camera and a handheld torch will be better than a mediocre photographer with an expensive set of gear: full-frame DSLR with strobes and snoots.
If your macro photos are bad, get closer. If they’re still bad, get more light.
You can extend your safety stop for quite awhile if you find a good subject or 3 to photograph. Going from 60 bar of gas to 25 bar takes a long time when you’re only 5 meters deep.
Have a goal for each macro dive: learning a new drive site, using a piece of new gear, or practicing a new technique.
Good dive guides save you time hunting for subjects and are worth their weight in gold. While you’re working on a subject, they find the next one for you.
You should have 30+ dives before you start shooting underwater macro. If you can’t control your buoyancy and pay attention to your surroundings, you have no business diving with a camera.
A dive buddy shooting macro isn’t really a dive buddy. I can’t even take photos on land with my wife and find her again.
See you underwater!!!
–Mike