By Anders Jälmsjö
Published in H2O Magazine, Issue Autumn 04
Underwater photography serves different purposes for different divers. Some wish to document the marine life that they have encountered to show family and friends, others want to give their memories eternal life by keeping photos in an album.
And for some, underwater photography is a form of art. Whatever the reason might be, most divers at one time or another bring an underwater camera on a dive or two. The object and results vary of course with dive as well as photo experience.
During my five years in Hurghada I have seen most of the different kinds.
One thing that most rolls of film have in common though, is that many of the photos show a diver underwater, an underwater model.
Depending on training, experience and reason, you can divide the underwater models into two groups. “Happy snapped buddy picture” and “Arranged rehearsed model picture”.
The first category is suitable for family albums while the other ends up in dive magazines and art calendars.
The happy buddy in a picture often shows a diver in action. Wether swimming through a wreck or over a coral reef the buddy is not an integral part of the picture and the photo would still be complete without their presence.
The model in a photograph is often used to highlight or accentuate the main feature of the picture meaning the picture would loose its full effect if the model were not present.
To get someone to model for you may prove as difficult as to get a good shot. Most people prefer to explore the wreck or the reef rather than hang motionless in mid-water waiting for you to get the settings right.
One value of using a model in an under water photo can be to increase the interest of the object.
By having the model look at a Scorpion fish and point a torch at it, makes the Scorpion fish more interesting.
Another way is to let a beautiful diver with a colourful wetsuit that the photographer purposely places as a part of the picture, become an object itself.
To use a model when photographing under water is not as easy as it might seem. First of all the model has to be a very good diver who can move into position quickly and then stay in one place for the time the photographer needs to shoot the frame.
The photographer and the model also must be able to communicate almost on a telepathic level. A moving object does not hang around forever so it is important that the model knows what the photographer wants through small and quick signals.
Buoyancy control is very important. At the same time as the model is trying to avoid touching the bottom or the ceiling in a cave, the model must look relaxed and interested whilst concentrating on leaving no exhalation bubbles.
You can’t ask the model to hold her breath so the photographer has to learn and feel the rhythm of the models breathing to either get no bubbles at all or place them where he wants them in the frame.
There are a few rules as to where to put the model in the picture. The rule of thirds is one. It means that you divide the frame into three equally sized parts horizontally and three equally sized parts vertically.
In the opposite diagonal crossing points you would find the model and the object creating a balance. When using a model most photographers operate with a wide-angle lens.
This means that there is a lot of area to fill in the frame and a model is often placed to fill an empty space. This helps to give the picture balance. The model can either be close enough for all the details, like the face and equipment to show, or in the distance.
In this case you would let the strobe light up only the object in the front of the picture and leave the model as a silhouette, maybe with the sun in the background and sunbeams spreading out over the frame.
For years I’ve been trying to improve my under water photography and I have been fortunate enough to gain a lot of knowledge from my friend and colleague, the professional underwater photographer Kimmo Hagman whom I’ve worked with for the last five years.
Wide-angle photography with models is one of his many specialties and I have learned most of what I know from him.
Two of the most valuable tips Kimmo has given me are “Of course rules are there to be broken”, and “Step away from the stereotype composition and create your own style, this makes your pictures different and interesting.”