Rules to play Underwater Photography

1. There are usually no restrictions on swimwear; however, baggy style trunks or shorts are not recommended, as they reduce speed and increase drag in the water. Typical swimwear is swim briefs for male players and one piece swimsuits for female players. .....

Mask

2. A diving mask is used for several reasons Players can equalise their ears using the Valsalva manoeuvre as the nose is covered Unlike swim goggles a mask sits outside the eyes orbit, reducing the effects of any impact on the mask Improved underwater visibility A low volume mask with minimal protrusion from the face reduces the likelihood of the mask being knocked, causing it to leak or flood and temporarily blind the player. In line with the rule .....

Snorkel

3. A snorkel enables players to watch the progress of the game without having to remove their head from the water to breathe. This allows them to keep their correct position on the surface, ready to resume play once they have recovered. In order to maximise the efficiency of breathing and reduce drag underwater they are often short and wide bore, with or without a drain valve. They must not be rigid or have any unnecessarily acute edges or points.Th .....

Fins

4. Fins allow the player to swim faster through the water. A wide range of fins are used in the sport but large plastic rubber composite fins or smaller, stiffer fibre glass or carbon fibre fins are commonplace at competitions. Once again they must have no unnecessarily acute or sharp edges, nor buckles. .....

Stick

5. The stick also referred to as a bat or pusher is relatively short according to recent rules, not more than 350mm including the handle and is coloured white or black to indicate the players team. The stick may only be held in one hand, which is usually determined by the players handedness, although players may swap hands during play. The shape of the stick may affect playing style and is often a very personal choice. A wide variety of stick design .....

Puck

6. The puck is approximately the size of an ice hockey puck but is made of lead or similar material Adult size weighs 3 lb 1.3 1.5 kg, Junior 1? lb 800 850 g and is surrounded by a plastic covering, which is usually matched to the pool bottom to facilitate good grip on the stick face while preventing excessive friction on the pool bottom. The pucks weight brings it to rest on the pool bottom, though can be lofted during passes. .....

Hat

7. Safety gear includes ear protection, usually in the form of a water polo cap to protect the eardrums and as a secondary indicator of the players team coloured black blue dark or white pale as appropriate. Water referees should wear red hats. .....

Glove

8. A glove should be worn on the playing hand to protect against pool bottom abrasion and, in some designs, for protection against puck impact on knuckles and other vulnerable areas no rigid protection is permitted though. Players may choose to wear a protective glove on both hands, either as additional protection from the pool bottom or, for ambidextrous players, to switch the stick between hands mid play. A glove used in competition must be a co .....

Goal

9. The goals or gulleys are three metres wide and are sited at opposite ends of the playing area on the pool bottom. They consist of a shallow slope leading up to a trough into which the puck may be pushed or flicked. Goals are commonly constructed from aluminium, galvanised or stainless steel. This helps to ensure that they are negatively buoyant and are durable in the chlorinated water of swimming pools. .....

Referees

10. Refereeing the game are two or three water referees i.e. in the pool with full snorkelling gear, and preferably wearing a distinctive red cap, orange gloves and golden yellow shirt to observe and referee play at the pool bottom, and one or more poolside deck referees to track time both in the period and for each ejected player, maintain the score, and call fouls such as excessive number of players in play, failure to start a point from the end of .....

Get Comfortable Underwater

11. One of the most important elements of underwater photography is feeling comfortable in the environment. Remember that the photographer becomes a floating platform on which the camera rests. The ability to swim welland in some instances fast, to catch up with the subjectis a must have skill.One of the advantages of shooting while scuba diving rather than snorkeling is that you can spend long periods in deeper water, closer to marine life. To be su .....

Understand Marine Life

12. To create any good picture, you must know your subject to be able to capture its essence. This concept becomes paramount when shooting in the underwater realm. What creatures should you approach? Are they dangerous or not? Understanding the behavior of fish will enable you to produce stunning imagery. Study swim patterns and other details. How is the school of fish moving and how can you get near it? What is the position of a sharks pectoral fins .....

Choose the Right Gear

13. When choosing what gear to use, keep in mind that there are two basicand hugely differentsystems A point and shoot camera in a waterproof case and a DSLR digital single lens reflex in an underwater housing with external strobes, such as that shown here. The first system has some advantages, including ease of use no complex set up and economy. Point and shoots are also fun for taking pictures on the surface, where theres a lot of light. One of th .....

White balance

14. For most cases put your white balance in daylight mode, especially if you are using flash. .....

Speed

15. In the manual setting, its the right combination of aperture and speed that will yield the correct exposure. I tend to use speed as a creative toolif I want my subject to be sharp and motionless Ill go to a higher shutter speed 1 125th or 1 250th. Or if I want to convey or capture motion, e.g., fish swimming, a slower shutter speed of 1 15th or lower is the way to go. .....

Focus

16. I tend to keep my focus in automatic and in single subject, which allows me to autofocus on the subject. In this mode, as long as I keep the shutter button down, it will hold the focus even if I recompose the scene. .....

Available Light

17. Flash is not always the solution; it will yield amazing pictures, but keep in mind that its not the only option. If you play your cards well, there are incredible images to be made with available light. Getting your exposure correct is very important If you want to get interesting silhouettes, try to underexpose the frame by at least 1 f stop. If you want to freeze the light rays entering the water, use a shutter speed of 1 250th or higher. .....

Complement Available Light With Flash

18. Using strobes underwater will help you explore all the creative possibilities that abound beneath the waves. The deeper you go, the less light youll have and the more important flash becomes. Flash will bring out all the wonderful colors in the fish and reef. It will also allow you to freeze or convey the movement of a subject. Never forget that flash is just another light source, and for it to work in your favor, you must do your best to allow .....

Enjoy the Experience

19. Remember that you dont dive to take pictures, you dive because you want to enjoy being immersed in an alternate universe. You dive to share and enjoy this wonderful space with its inhabitants. If you make this a priority, good pictures will emerge. Photography is a by product of the experience. Enjoy the experience, and the pictures will come. .....

Colour balance

20. Colour balance does present us with a bigger challenge. The colours we see are the visible portion of the spectrum of light; different colours are represented by different wave lengths. Blue has the shortest wave length with the most energy, red is at the other end of the spectrum with the longest wave length and the least energy. Light travels quite effectively through air, so the difference in energy between the colours has negligible effect on .....

Using a strobe light

21. There are some does and donts to using a strobe. While the strobe will produce a powerful burst of light, its energy will still be absorbed by water. So get as close as you can to your subject, when you think you cant possibly get any closer, get closer still. This will reduce the amount of water between you and the subject, and so allow as much light as possible to reach it from your strobe. You should also place the strobe light on an arm, so t .....

Lighting

22. Proper lighting makes or breaks images. Think twice about entering over or under exposed images. Exposure does not need to be absolutely perfect if the image is still striking .....

Composition

23. With so many underwater images being created every year, there are a lot of great images out there. Good composition is the key to a pleasing image. Think about image flow .....

Check out the judges

24. What makes a winning image is very subjective and each judge will have a different thought process depending on who they are. Professional photographers will be more critical of the finer technical details, while non photographers, even magazine editors are simply looking for striking images regardless of the technical aspects of the shot. Knowing ahead of time who the judges are can help you refine your selection of images to enter. .....

Right Camera

25. With the advent of digital technology, film has slid into relic status. That does not mean it is obsoletewith appropriate housing for a film camera one can capture impressive imagesbut it is not as easy as shooting with a digital camera.The number of water resistant cameras available to consumers has increased exponentially in the 21st Century. It is possible to produce quality images with almost any model. A point and shoot gets the job done, .....

Light in Water

26. Without getting too technical,it is important to know the three things that happen when light hits water refraction, reflection, and absorption.Refraction is the bending of light rays, reflection sends them back in to the atmosphere, and specific wavelengths colors in the visible spectrum are fully absorbed by incremental depths Red is only visible at shallow depths; blue much deeper.Light intensity and individual colors diminish, which forces th .....