With the advent of technology in the world of filmmaking, it’s no longer a requirement to have a film degree or extensive knowledge about the craft to shoot a high-quality video. The same applies to underwater shoots so many divers are so fond of doing. A couple of how-to’s found in Google or a few words of wisdom from friends who’ve been there and done that will do.
If you’re after the first, keep on scrolling. Chances are, you’ll find exactly what you need to not only capture the beauty of marine life but also gain a new hobby for yourself. And who wouldn’t like to have tangible memories of their diving adventures?
Avoid shaking the camera and hold it still instead
Nomatter if you have the best camera available or a good budget underwater camera, your pictures will be useless of you don’t master the skill of holding your camera still.
It might be tempting to let your camera loose when water surges and currents get in the way. What you should do, however, is to hold onto it tight and maintain as much stability as physically possible. This way you’re preventing yourself from getting bad footage.
If using a tripod isn’t an option (it’s still preferred for close-up and macro filming though), consider keeping your camera steady on the subject for a prolonged period of time to get a good shot. You can even count to 10 while doing so without readjusting the angle so that the outcome is actually usable.
Know your camera settings and use them appropriately
There’s no reason to learn all the technical jargon from the get-go — you’ll confuse yourself and end up leaving your camera in a dusty drawer till the better days. But you do need to understand what resolution and frame rate means and how to set the right white balance to get that bright and crisp footage.
Resolution relates to the number of pixels your image contains. The higher the number is — modern cameras and smartphones can have a resolution of a whopping 2778 x 1284 — the better is the quality of the image.
As for the frame rate — or the number of frames your device is able to capture in a second — you’ll typically be presented with either 23, 30, or 60fps. Paired with either automatically or manually set white balance that counteracts the colors becoming lost, you’re bound to get a high-definition (HD) video.
3. Aim to shoot into the light
While it’s standard practice to keep the light behind you when shooting during the day, you’d be surprised by how much more you can achieve if you tweak your strategy. For this method to work, you’ll want to ditch GoPro and go with a DSLR camera instead since it has a higher dynamic range of at least 12 stops that allows for handling high contrast.
To get the best results, pick the time of the day when the sun is low and the visibility is high. Whether it’s early in the morning or late in the afternoon, you want the light to be gently stroking ocean animals as you pass them and press record for minutes at a time.
4. Don’t forget to record the motion
Staying in one place to get a good shot is a right thing to do, but this isn’t nearly enough when you’re trying to capture an object that’s constantly moving. Find the right angle, adjust the focus, and follow the action at a moderate pace.
A handy trick is to leave for the moving object plenty of room in the shot when following it. This adds professionalism and makes it look more organic and less forced. You can also let the object swim out of your camera’s frame at the end of the shoot for a graceful ending.
5. Get a variety of shots including close-ups and wide-angle shots
Dynamic footage is hands down the most pleasant to watch, so that’s what you should aim for. This implies filming those manta rays and turtles swimming from right to left while appearing and disappearing from your frame and using different lights and angles to get different perspectives of the same creature.
Snapping a shot of another diver floating around corals and fish can also help add a human touch to your footage. Combine it with short videos of dive sites, bubbles, and the sun rays cutting through the crystal clear blue water and you’ll be amazed at how the final product looks once you’re done combining the footage at your desktop.
6. Take your time when recording
A common mistake beginners make is not allowing enough time to pass before they move onto the next shot. They think that getting 5-10 seconds of footage is enough to capture the essence of the object they’re filming and forget about the human, or rather the rookie error that will inevitably take place.
Don’t fall into this trap and give yourself some time to get at least 20-30 seconds of footage before pressing the ‘stop recording’ button. You never know if the whale you are filming is about to do something exciting in the next few seconds after you stopped filming and it’d be a bummer to miss out on it.
Aryan Jalan is a business enthusiast with a keen passion towards marketing. He loves to spend his free time with his pet dog Bruno; & always excited to explore and capture the beauty of the world through the lens and pen down its journey through blogs.
