Scuba Essentials for Underwater Photography

The number one rule of scuba diving is don't forget to breath! At the same time, to take good photos, you need a regulator that you can "forget" is in your mouth. It has to withstand any dive environment and be easy to breathe through, whether you are deep or shallow. A balanced regulator, like the Mares Dual ADJ 62X, should feel the same regardless of depth or tank pressure. The Mares Dual ADJ 62X second stage is also designed with Mare's vortex assisted design (VAD) technology that makes each breath a little bit easier as there is a seperate tube that funnels air and assists in flow. 

Finally, I do a lot of cold water diving along the Pacific Coast from Washington to Southern California. It is essential for me that a reg can perform in cold water and freezing temperatures and the 62x can do just that. Mares regs are designed for cold water.

Another reg that I enjoy diving is Apeks XL4 Ocea which is made from recycled materials and bioplastics. I love how light and breathable this regulator is.

As an underwater photographer - I need to quickly glance at my dive computer and know exactly what's going on and how much air I have - whether a shark is passing me by, or I'm caught in a strong current. This means that I need a large LED display with an easy to read layout. I love the shearwater perdix 2 because it has a large, colorful, and bright screen, but it's also extremely rugged. I've done countless surf entries with the computer and dived with it in high current environments. It's very easy to use with just two buttons to control the device and it's easy to take a look back at your dive profiles and change your gas mixture. The computer does much more than I need it for and is a great option for tech divers using trimix as well. But most importanlty, I got the Perdix 2 so that I could monitor my wife's air consumption during the dive. This is possible with the Shearwater swift transmitter. 

If you're a Garmin fan, the new X50i is the Garmin equivalent of a Perdix. It's another large wrist computer with a bright, colorful screen. The X50i has even more features, including the ability to log the location of your dives.

Frog kicking is an essential finning technique for underwater photography. This is a technique where a diver who has neutral buoyancy propels forward by kicking inward like a frog rather than the traditional up and down fin motion. You can think of it as a reverse breast stroke for your feet. Frog kicking makes it really easy to change position, spin around, or even kick backward. It also significantly reducing the amount of sediment you kick up and the amount of backscatter in your photo.

But you need the right fin for the job. Tech fins like the Apeks RK3 fins or the Fourth Element Tech Fins are the best fin for this technique. They tend to be shorter and heavier and are not good for long surface swims or fighting current. If you want an all around fin for travel that still frog kicks well, I'd recommend the Mares Avanti Quattro 4X. Those are the fins I use when I'm traveling. You can see my wife wearing a pair in the title photo of the article. 

Proper buoyancy control and trim underwater is the premier skill needed to master underwater photography. It's what keeps you in position, calm, and ready to takethe shot. Most subjects that you shoot are close to the bottom, so good trim often involves being completely flat and low in the water column. While you want to be as low as possible, you'll also want to make sure that your hoses aren't dragging along the bottom.

A back inflated BCD makes it very easy to keep proper, flat trim in the water and it also keeps your front clear of clutter. This makes it easy to hover over the bottom. Halcyon's Eclipse BCD system is one of the most popular back inflate systems on the market. Sometimes, I find that I like to lift my head a bit more - especially for wide angle photography. In these cases, I choose the Mares Bolt BCD. This is a back inflate, weight integrated BCD which is more of a hybrid between a traditional BCD system and a back inflate. 

Pockets can be far and few between in the scuba world. But when you're underwater looking to switch from macro to supermacro, pockets are essential for cary lenses and other photographic tools. 

I love my Waterproof W8 wetsuit for this exact reason. I can keep all my macro tools in my pockets and not worry about switching lenses underwater or adding a snoot. At the same time, the wetsuit is very warm with special seals at the wrist, legs, and neck. My favorite touch is the computer anchor on the wrist which keeps me from loosing my Perdix 2. 

I've been diving with Fourth Element 3mm gloves since I was 15....whether I'm in 46F degree water or 86F water. This is because fourth element gloves give me the ultimate dexterity and even at 3mm, they keep me warm in cold water. 

I love cold water diving - so if you tend to get cold you still might want to consider the 5mm gloves. But I like to have my gloves as thin as possible for full control of my camera. And these gloves make it easy. 

When you're carrying a heavy camera system above water, it's essential that you don't trip. Whether you're beach diving or on a liveaboard, it's a good idea to dive a boot that has a hard sole. This makes your shore entries easy and keeps you grounded. I've found bare ultrawarmth boots to be extremely warm and comfortable. It feels like you're wearing something between a sock and a shoe. 

Often some of the best dive sites for underwater photography can have some of the heaviest boat traffic. The blue heron bridge, one of the world's top macro sites, has boats running near it all day long. It's important to carry an SMB or signal marker buoy so that boats can see where you are diving and stay clear - especially when you're surfacing. But carrying a "sausage" by itself is not enough - you also need a reel. Thankfully this Mares all-in-one SMB has everything you need to successfully deploy a marker buoy.  

Sometimes a wetsuit just isn't enough....especially when water temps start dropping below 70F. Thankfully, the staff at Bluewater Photo & Scuba are specially trained to custom fit you in a drysuit from anywhere in the world. 

Drysuits can be great for all temperatures as they allow you to switch out the undergarment for different conditions. We have undergarments for everything from ice diving to tropical diving. 

When I first got my Shearwater Perdix, I forgot to change the battery on a dive quickly realized that I had no other way to read my air when it died! You don't want to be stuck in a situation where you don't know how much air you have underwater. It can be very easy to get distracted by your photography. A spare submerssible pressure gauge is essential for quickly checking your air - especially with a dead computer. 

Obviously, you need to be able to comfortably see in order to take good photos. In the past, I had always thought a clear dive mask or a mask with clear side panels was a must-have for underwater photography. But recently, I picked up a Mares X-Vision mask and I realized that I actually just needed comfort. The X-Vision mask is designed with Mare's "liquid skin" technology. I don't know how they do it, but when I put it on, it feels like I'm not wearing anything on my face - it feels like skin! Until now, I never noticed that "mask fatigue" that I would acquire over the course of a dive. Now I feel great throughout the dive with no itchiness or soreness on my face at the end. 

If you're an underwater photographer, then you've likely needed to change locations for your next dive trip. The only way to do this is with a dive gear bag! I started traveling with Stahlsac bags after my friend and reknowned photographer, Andy Sallmon recommended them to me. They are extremely durable, and just the right size to fit my dive gear and some cloths (and sometimes camera arms and clamps). Of course, we offer plenty of different dive gear bags - many that are more affordable and designed for local trips. 

Don't miss out on our favorite Bluewater swag including our Bluewater Mask Strap, Neck Gaiter, Tshirt, Drybags and Micro Fiber Cloth!