How to Take Underwater Photos With Your Phone
Taking a camera underwater opens up a whole new world of photographic opportunity. From images of a diver floating in a wide empty space to those of marine life and unique glimpses of the world out in the deep, there’s so much that underwater photography can offer.
Until relatively recently, it would mean investing in expensive photography gear to take on this creative task. Nowadays, with smartphone designs that are more durable, and with the aid of reliable tools and underwater gear, we are now able to take our phones underwater to capture beautiful images and videos. In this guide, we’ll share with you some tips on how to take underwater photos with your phone.
Is It Possible to Take Good Photos with a Smartphone?
The technology that we have in our pockets nowadays has taken a leap forward in many ways. The cameras on our smartphones are now able to take excellent images even in low-light situations. AI-powered smartphone cameras mean we can now take amazing photographs even in unfavourable conditions and not have to tinker so much, as they can select the right settings and make colour adjustments for the user.
In addition, smartphones are now becoming more water resistant, which allows us to take them into certain underwater environments without the need for special gear. This, however, does have certain limitations in terms of the kind of water that we expose the phone to and how deep we can go with it, which is why it is still always better to have protective tools available.
These limitations aside, yes, it is possible to take underwater photos with your iPhone and Android phone.
Essential Underwater Photography Gear
To allow you to go further and deeper, and be more creative in taking underwater photos with your smartphone, here are some examples of essential underwater smartphone photography gear that will expand the possibilities of your creative pursuit.
1. Housings/Waterproof Cases
The most important accessory for taking beautiful underwater photos and videos is a waterproof case or housing.
iPhones and some of the top Android smartphones are generally rated at IP68, which means that they can go down to about 6 meters below the surface for about 30 minutes. However, this rating only applies to fresh water which makes it quite a significant limitation.
With waterproof housing, you’ll be able to enter saltwater environments as well. It allows you to fully utilize the touch screen even while inside the housing and underwater.
2. Domes
Optically, a dome attachment or a lens will have a big impact on your underwater photos, allowing you to create interesting compositions in and out of the water.
Light travels at different rates through air and water so there will be a resulting distortion and aberration on the image projected to your smartphone camera’s sensor. Since a dome lens takes in the air around the camera of your phone, it is able to correct that distortion.
3. Handles/Grips
To give you a better grip on your phone and at the same time allow you to it better while floating underwater, a handle or grip will make a huge difference. Grips give you something to hold on to.
Techniques for Taking Photos Underwater
Gearing up for the shoot is only half the task. Executing the perfect underwater shot is a whole other matter. So, here are some helpful tips to help you take breathtaking smartphone or iPhone underwater photography.
1. Getting the Settings Right
Underwater photography is one of those disciplines where the correct camera settings can make or break a shoot. Since light is relatively scarce underwater, you’ll need to make sure your shot is bright enough to bring out the details without creating too much noise from increasing your ISO or motion blur from using a shutter speed that’s too slow.
For the best results, it is best to use your phone’s manual camera mode if possible. That way you can set the right combination of exposure settings to produce clear and properly exposed images. Your priority is to keep your shutter speed no slower than 1/30th of a second if your subject is still, and faster than this if the subject is in motion.
You may have to boost your ISO depending on the lighting condition but monitor it so as to avoid getting too much noise. Smartphones generally have fixed apertures so that will be a constant.
2. Tackle Changing Light
Even underwater, it is expected that lighting conditions change. In fact, the impact of a cloud covering the sun when underwater will be exponentially bigger than above the surface. For this reason, it will be helpful to use external artificial light sources that you can attach to your phone’s underwater casing.
These lights can provide additional brightness to make underwater photography with your smartphone easier.
3. Get Creative with Underwater Compositions
Your underwater photography compositions can tell a story even in the vastness of the ocean.
Photographing a person or an animal against a wide empty background can illustrate the scale of the subject in the scene. You could also look for angles where the refraction of light from the surface creates depths and a visible visual path towards your subject.
When diving in relatively shallow water, you can use what’s on the surface, such as corals and other marine life, as foreground with a much larger subject in the back. When using a dome attachment, you can create stunning images that show what’s above and below the surface of the water.
4. Master Staying Still
Being able to hold yourself in position while underwater allows you to capture clear images even when using a relatively slow shutter speed. By maintaining your position, you’ll also increase your chances of not disrupting the environment and the subject you wish to shoot. Marine animals will move comfortably around you, potentially creating more scenes to photograph.
If it’s safe to do so, you can practise holding still while swimming in a pool by staying close to the edge and holding your breath while shooting. When in the ocean, you can use stable rocks that are of significant mass to anchor yourself while shooting.
5. Focus on Your Subject
One of the most important factors in capturing sharp images is making sure that your subject is in focus. This is generally easier when photographing still objects.
To ensure your focus is accurate, don't forget to use the view/functionality of your smartphone screen to focus on subjects you want to focus on. If it has the capability to do continuous focusing and/or subject tracking, those will make it much easier when shooting underwater.
6. Make Sure Your Phone is Ready for the Water
To make the underwater photography process much smoother, make sure that all your underwater photography tools are ready and functioning.
This includes testing the seal of your underwater housing before using it with your phone. You can do this by submerging the sealed housing without the phone. Instead, you can place a piece of paper inside to check the case is watertight.
Once you’ve assembled your underwater photography setup, you can pre-select general settings that will lessen the amount of adjustments that you will have to make while underwater. That way, you can focus on the creative process instead of the technical settings.
7. Stay Safe
Whenever diving and doing underwater photography, safety is of the utmost importance.
Be aware of your surroundings at all times as you identify potential scenes to photograph. Always make sure to have at least one companion with you so you can check up on each other. It’s always advised to avoid touching marine life, not just for the sake of your own safety but also to protect the marine environment that you’re visiting.
8. Know How to Post-Process Underwater Photos
After mastering how to take photos with iPhone and Android smartphone cameras, post-processing and editing your photos will be crucial. There will always be limitations to work around when shooting and making adjustments on exposure, colour correction, and removing distracting elements will help you improve your images. To help you with that, here’s our in-depth tutorial on How to Edit Underwater Photography.
Take the Plunge
Underwater photography with your phone is absolutely possible and is a good way to learn underwater photography and filmmaking if you’re starting out. With the right tools, enough practice, and your desire for exploration, you can create stunning underwater images to share with the world.
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