Shooting Portraits Underwater Can Create Beautiful Results

Shooting Portraits Underwater Can Create Beautiful Results

Shooting underwater is not a simple task, and usually not very affordable. To shoot underwater you need not only the knowledge, but also expensive DSLR housing (or point and shoot cameras designed to shoot underwater) and also underwater lighting system if you want to fully control the lighting. Once you get underwater with your subject, the water lets you create striking and beautiful images, that you can never create out in the fresh air. Check out these great examples of underwater photography.

Ever tried shooting under water, in the pool or in the ocean? share the results with us on our Facebook Group or in the comments below.

vignette légère II
Photo: Sarah Lee.

Sous l'eau
Photo: Christel Eldrim.

floating freckles
Photo: Tracie Taylor Photography.

Weight of truth
Photo: Jonathan Jacobsen.

Untitled
Photo: Emily_c.

Matilda
Photo: Maria Strömvik.

to pass away with no regrets
Photo: Sarah Ann Loreth.

R.E.M.
Photo: Ibai.

Water Demons
Photo: Von Wong.

Vasos de agua
Photo: Ibai.

Mermaid shoot
Photo: Tilo Gockel.

Kacie2s
Photo: Dennis McDaniel.

Free on Space
Photo: Rafal Makiela.

Underwater - Martina
Photo: Brett Sargeant.

John Deeb Photography
Photo: Julie.

Genevieve
Photo: Lloyd Barnes.

a twist of fate
Photo: Brooke Shaden.

Noam Galai's picture

Noam Galai is a Senior Fstoppers Staff Writer and NYC Celebrity / Entertainment photographer. Noam's work appears on publications such as Time Magazine, New York Times, People Magazine, Vogue and Us Weekly on a daily basis.

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9 Comments

Actually it can be done without great expense, or underwater lights. For example, I use an ewa-marine soft housing which is about 1/5 to 1/10 of the cost of hard case housings. It also allows a flash to be in the housing, which can be used as the master with the Nikon system for lighting control. Most of the time I just use a single flash on a boom out over the pool. Usually you can get line of site with no problems, but if I'm going to be moving around I'll use radiopoppers to trigger the flash.

Hello to everyone!

Already posted a comment on the other post about underwater photography, might not hurt if I post them again.
http://www.pleinsud.com/
(on the site is also a bts of the shoot)
and some tryouts
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40503675@N03/6654661997/in/photostream
hope u like the results
best regards

shooting above water too....

Really want to do underwater photography and video but the price of cases being $1500+ is really turning me off. Is there a cheaper solution for at least getting started that will produce good quality work? The Go Pro might work for video but not for stills and not really sure of any still solutions. Was possibly thinking the Sony Nex 5n with the 100 dollar chinese cases. Still those cases really limit your lens selection.

Hi there, and thanks a bunch for featuring one of my underwater shots (the one with the gallo-watermark)! I shot this for my book about flash photography and in this book I explain all the technical stuff about the shoot:

http://www.galileodesign.de/3007
-
The book is in German, but - if the fstoppers are interested, - I could easily translate the section about the underwater shoot to English. Topics: How to trigger accu-powered studio flashes outside the pool in a reliable and safe way; which housing to use; safety considerations; how to do this shoot for under 100 $ for additional equipment and housings.

All the best, Tilo
-
http://www.fotopraxis.net
kontakt at fotopraxis dot net

I have not had the fortune to work with underwater light setups, aside
from a speedlite I can use in my case, but I am happy with what I have
been able to produce.

My absolute favorite place to shoot! :) Oh the possibilities. :)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jennbischof/9666208712/

Inspired on this post, I recently started to shoot underwater portraits, I wanted to share.
https://www.behance.net/gallery/17099769/Underwater-Princess
hope you like the pics