So what exactly is backscatter?

Backscatter occurs when the cameras flash highlights the suspended particles within the water column between the subject and cameras lens.

There are a few ways to avoid backscatter and to help stop it ruining your shots.

If you are photographing in turbid water, try to shoot macro shots, that way there will less water between the camera and your subject. Also, try not to shoot subjects into open water, have the reef as the background so that the water cannot be seen.

This picture shows backscatter from shooting wide angle in some fairly turbid water. Macro photography would probably have been a better choice in these conditions, but who can resist photographing a beautiful turtle?!

Strobe positioning can be a major factor in preventing backscatter. If your strobes are in the wrong position, then they can intensify the problem. Try to have them out and away from your camera, at about a 45 degree angle. This will help to limit the amount of water which is hit by the strobe cone.
If you are using a compact camera without strobes, make sure you use the flash diffuser which can help a little, however due to the flash position, little else can be done. You are definitely better using external strobes.
If you are using a manual strobe, sometimes backscatter can occur due to the flash firing too brightly. If you think the strobe position is fine, then try turning the power down a notch or two.

Get as close as possible to your subject (without touching it!)so there is the least possible amount of water between you and the subject. If you are shooting wide angle, use the widest possible lens or a fish-eye lens as these will let you get even closer without cutting off part of the scene.

Make sure you have mastered your buoyancy! You could be diving in the clearest water there is, but it doesn’t matter if you are kicking up the silt with your fins. Make sure you can control where you are and what you are doing in the water.

This picture is a good example of backscatter caused by sand being kicked up around the subject.

If you are diving with others, try to go in a group that also have good buoyancy. Im sure you’ll be less than pleased if your fellow divers keep ruining your shots due to their poor diving skills! Photographing slightly away from where other divers are can help. And if there are other photographers in your group, try to discuss etiquette before hand ie, hanging back until each has finished before moving in to photograph the same subject.

In currents, try to position yourself down current from your subject. This way you can kick into the current instead of being pushed towards the subject, which means less swimming around and less chance of kicking up any silt.

Sometimes it can be possible to find areas of water where the suspended particles are less. Try heading a bit deeper or shallower. Often the particles are caused by a thermocline or band of water just a few meters in depth and sometimes the other sides of it can have surprisingly clear water!

Unfortunately, backscatter is just one of the things you have to deal with as an underwater photographer. But hopefully by thinking about and following the suggestions above you’ll be able to stop it ruining too many of your wonderful shots!

First you need to decide when to use your strobe. If you are in clear shallow water no deeper than around 8 meters, and the sun is shining, then its best to switch off your flash and use the sun to highlight your subject. In conditions like this, your flash will not really be effective anyway, so try using the cameras white balance menu to get help get rid of the green and bring back the true colours.

This picture of the Barracuda is a great example of turning off the flash and using the natural light to highlight your subject. Also with this particular subject, due to their shiny scales, a flash could overexpose on the Barracuda’s bodies.

Once you start to go a bit deeper, or the conditions are darker then you need to start using a flash to counter-act the green and make the rich beautiful colours jump out at you. This is because water, being much denser than air, soaks up light like a sponge. This causes extreme loss of color and contrast at any significant depth. The longer wavelengths of sunlight, which are the reds, oranges and yellows, are absorbed quickly by the surrounding water and because of this everything appears blue-green in color, even to the naked eye .

The loss of colour not only increases vertically through the water column, but also horizontally, so subjects further away from the camera will also appear colorless and indistinct. This effect is true even in clear shallow water such as that found around tropical coral reefs. The only way to bring back the colours that have been absorbed is to use a flash.

Most cameras have built-in flashes, but unless you are very close to your subject, these are usually fairly ineffective due to their weak flash output. Moving closer will definitely help, but being close enough that your flash will light the subject adequately can cause a problem of it’s own – the lens port on many housings can obstruct the flash beam, creating shading across a portion of the picture. Not ideal when you want the whole of your image to be lit up.

To help over come these problems, photographers use external strobes with their cameras. Basically an external strobe is a very powerful flash which is attached to the outside of underwater housings which can be moved into different positions depending on the effect you wish to create.

There are a huge array of strobes on the market from small basic manual ones, up to larger more powerful ones that can be synced with your cameras flash. When selecting an external strobe, choose one that is specific for digital cameras with automatic and manual settings and make sure it is compatible with your camera and housing. Having flexible arms which attach your strobe to your camera are a must, as these allow you to move the strobe around to where you want it to be. Try to get one which has a good power output and also check the recycle time after a ‘full dump’ of power. It can be very irritating missing a shot and watching your subject disappear into the blue, just because you’re waiting for your strobe to recharge. Using rechargeable nickel-metal hydride batteries will often give a shorter recycle time than normal single use batteries, and are better for the environment too!

Some divers use one strobe for their set up and find this to be adequate, others prefer to have 2, one on each side of the camera. The problem with a single strobe is that it can create a shadow on one side of your subject due to the light generally only coming from one side. To try and reduce this effect, you can try to use natural light to illuminate your subject and use the strobe to fill in any dark areas. If this is not adequate for you, then maybe you should consider having a 2 strobe set up.

So where do you position your strobe in relation to your camera and subject? Well it all depends on the type of shot you are taking.

For wide angle shots, you want to have your strobes out and away from your camera as this will light up a larger area. If you only have one strobe, position it above your housing at a 45 degree angle and pointing towards the subject. For those with 2 strobes, if they are both of equal power then have one on either side of the camera, aimed straight ahead.
Some people have 2 strobes with unequal power. The main strobe acts as the sun, while the other is a filler for extra light. When this is the case, for wide angle shots the main strobe should be positioned similar to that of a single strobe, and the filler should be at the other side at a lower angle to get the right balance of light.

When doing macro shots, your strobes need to be in a different position. Apart from your subject being smaller, the area you are photographing in will possibly be smaller too, so you will need to pull your strobe arms in closer to your housing. If you are using 2 strobes, then they can be pulled level with the lens port and angled towards the subject to get even lighting. To try something a bit different, try positioning the strobes to the side and slightly behind the subject if you have room. This can give a nice effect of side and back lighting, causing the subject to have a slight glow.

If you only have one strobe, try positioning it above the subject for some good results which give a nice effect with a sense of depth.

Try to avoid pointing your strobe directly at your subject (similar to the position of the cameras internal flash) as this can cause backscatter. By positioning the strobe at an angle, you can reduce the amount of particles which are lit up by the flash.
You can see from the diagrams that the image on the left is using the camera’s built in flash and highlights a much larger amount of water in front of the lens, meaning that more particles will be lit up. The image on the right shows how positioning the strobe will still light up the subject but less of the water between the camera and subject.

Backscatter occurs when there are lots of particles in the water, such as plankton or silt, which get lit up by the flash/strobe and can ruin your picture. It is a particularly irritating phenomenon but can often be avoided by proper positioning and adjusting the output of external lights. Sometimes however, the conditions can just be so bad that it doesn’t matter what you do, the particles will still show up. In this case, you’re probably better off sticking to macro photography rather than wide angle, and shots which don’t have any water in the negative space.

You can see from the picture to the left that there is backscatter covering the photograph, effectively ruining what would have been a nice photo. To avoid this, the photographer could adjust the angle of the strobe so that just the edge of the beam is lighting the subject, and the intensity of the flash could be turned down.

Experimenting with strobe positions can really add a different dynamic to your pictures and can be fun too. Try to practice on one subject to see how different the picture can look. For example pick a subject then photograph it 3 times with side-lighting, back-lighting and front-lighting to see the different effects you can achieve. You could surprise yourself at just how different you can make your pictures look!

Main Causes of Flooding –

The first and most common cause of flooding is getting something caught in the o-ring, which in turn prevents the door closing properly causing water to flood into the housing. Hair, sand, silica sachets, dirt etc are all culprits, making it essential to check the o-ring before you close the housing.
Other causes include salt build-up in the o-ring grooves, damaged o-rings, o-rings not being in the right position (can you see a theme here?!) catches not being closed properly, jumping into the water with your housing and sync-cords not being attached properly.

So as you have probably guessed, your o-rings are a very important part of your kit and need to be looked after properly. O-rings are generally found on the doors of equipment such as your housing and strobes. They form a seal which the water cannot pass through, making your things waterproof. If they get damaged or get something caught in them, this will prevent the seal from forming and leaks will more than likely occur.

The best way to look after o-rings is to keep them supple and lubricated and we do this by applying silicon grease to them. The grease prevents the o-ring from becoming dried out or unflexible which will stop it from working effectively.
However, many people make the mistake of applying a thick layer of the grease while the o-ring is in the housing. You need to take the o-ring out, avoiding using your nails or anything sharp which could cut it. Then you want to give it a good check over for any signs of wear and tear. If it is starting to look stretched or a bit worn then its probably a good idea to get it changed. Then you want give it a clean and apply a SMALL amount of silicon grease so that a thin layer covers the o-ring. If you use a lot so there is a thick covering, then the risk of getting dirt and things stuck to it is greatly increased. Less is definitely more in this instance!
When you have your housing in storage, then you should remove the o-ring, clean it, lubricate it and put it in a sealing sandwich bag to prevent it from drying out.

Camera Set Up –

When you are setting up your camera before going diving, try to do it in a cool area with plenty of light so you can see what you’re doing. Also try to give yourself plenty of time so you are not rushing. Cameras set up in a hurried manner inevitably end up with problems such as flooding or lens caps not being removed.

A good place to start is with cleaning both sides of the housing lens. This will ensure you have a nice clean lens with nothing on it which could spoil your pictures. Firstly, use a blower to blow off any dirt or particles and then use a soft brush. Do this before you use a lens cloth or you may scratch the lens. Using a few small drops of lens cleaning solution and a soft lens cloth, gently rub the lens until it’s clean. I like to then finish it off with a lens paper to get a really streak free result.

Next, check and lubricate the o-ring as stated above, remembering to clean the o-ring groove if the housing has one. Also check the buttons, bulk head and door catch for signs of wear and tear or damage. Once you have ensured that everything is fine, pop in a couple of silica gel sachets to help prevent fogging, making sure they are not blocking the lens port or likely to get caught in the o-ring. Then place the camera carefully inside, close the door and secure the latch.
It’s a really good idea to do a couple of test shots to ensure all the connections are working, strobes are firing correctly, batteries are charged and the memory card is inserted. Its very frustrating to realise once you’re in the water that you have a simple problem but its too late to fix.

It’s usually prudent to then submerge your housing into a dunk tank or bucket of water to check for leaks before you jump in for your dive. Hold the housing down as deep as you can and look for bubbles. If there are none, then its probably fine and properly sealed. If you see a steady stream of bubbles, it usually indicates water getting inside the housing.
If you have a new housing, remember to test it by taking it on a dive WITHOUT the camera first. Put in a piece of tissue paper, take it down to around 30 meters and press all the buttons a few times. This will show if the housing is working fine or has any leaks.

Throughout The Day -

Keep the housing in a cool place if possible away from direct sunlight. Having it sitting in the sun is not good for the housing and will cause it to fog when you take it on your dive. At the very least keep it covered with a wet towel.
When entering the water, make sure you bring it in GENTLY or ideally have it passed to you once you are already in. A camera which hits the water hard has a high potential to flood.
If you have a lens cover, make sure it is on at all times to prevent any accidental damage to the lens.

After the dive, make sure you rinse it with clean fresh water, pressing all the buttons to make sure all the salt water is flushed out. Then keep it somewhere it cannot be damaged such as in a box or plastic container. If you don’t have any fresh water, keep the camera in salt water until fresh water is available. This will help prevent salt particles drying in the buttons.
Dry off the housing with a lint free towel, paying particular attention to the lens so water marks do not form.

Once you know your housing is properly sealed and not leaking its best to leave it like that. However, if you do have to open it to change batteries or whatever, try to do it in a dry area away from lots of people. Thoroughly dry it and yourself off and remember not to lean over the housing once it’s open so you dont drip water inside. Use a paper towel to dry off the o-ring as soon as you open the housing and remember to check it again before you close it.

If Your Camera Leaks -

Dont panic! Try to stay calm as you may be able to save it. Turn your camera lens port down so the water collects away from the camera. Ascend safely and dry everything off, taking the battery and memory card out of the camera. If the leak has been minor then maybe the camera will still work.
If you are experiencing your strobe firing independently on the dive, this can sometimes indicate moisture in the bulk head. This could mean there is a leak at the sync cord or water got into the bulk head during set up. End the dive and check it out before it leads to a more serious problem.

The more carefully you look after your underwater camera system, the longer it should last you. Of course mistakes and accidents will always happen, it comes with the territory, but remembering the pointers above should help to reduce the risk of them happening and help you make many happy dives with your camera.

For information about our Underwater Photography and Videography courses, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Generally you can find Nudibranches all over a dive site. They can be right out in the open on the sandy bottom, crawling around on walls and bommies, they can be hidden within nooks and crannies, or camouflaged in the coral. Have a look and determine if their position will allow a good photo opportunity. If the are out on the reef then great, if they are tucked away in a corner, then maybe it’s a good idea to look for another subject.

Because of their size, you will need to shoot in macro mode for your camera to be able to focus on them and pick up all their wonderful details. If you are using a point and shoot camera, then make sure you choose ‘macro mode.’ If you are using an DSLR camera, you will need to make sure you have your macro lens attached before the dive. Some cameras have a ‘super macro’ mode, but usually this will not fire a flash. So for it to be effective, you will need to be in shallow water with lots of bright natural light, or have an alternative light source, ie an LED light.

Due to their shape and usual proximity to the reef, many people tend to shoot Nudi’s from above. This may get the whole slug in the frame but it doesn’t really make the most of their features.
As well as their wonderfully decorated body, most Nudibranches have lovely little rhinopores at the front of their head for sensing smell. If it’s possible, it’s usually a good idea get down to their level and to try and shoot the Nudibranch face on, so you can see the rhinopores. This adds a bit of detail and extra interest to the picture and means the viewer is looking into the face of the Nudi. Due to their lack of eyes, the viewer needs to feel a connection to the subject, and this can be done with the rhinopores. It will also add to the depth of the picture, especially if you can get water in the background.

Some Nudi’s also have cerata, which are feather-like protruding naked gills which can also be a great focus for your picture.

Using different lighting effects can really help to enhance your image. Experimenting with various strobe techniques, down, side and upward lighting can all give quite a different feel to the picture. Trying to achieve a black background can also be a great way to really make the colours and details of the subject stand out. However moving the subject to a different location, as some photographers do to achieve this effect, is generally frowned upon. It can have severe detrimental effects on the animal and may even cause death; no photograph is worth that.

So next time you’re out with your camera, try your hand at some creative Nudibranch shots. You’ll be surprised at the results you can achieve and you may even see some of their details you hadn’t noticed before!

Basically what you are trying to do is illuminate your subject but shut out all the light surrounding it. This works best if you have empty space behind your subject rather than have it backing onto a coral or rock. Try different angles to achieve this and remember to shoot upwards, not downwards or ontop of the subject.

To achieve the effect, you have to adjust your cameras settings to limit the light. To do this, first you should put your shutter speed up high. On an SLR the highest speed synced with your strobe is usually about 1/250th, on a compact camera its much higher so start at about 1/500th. Having a high shutter speed pretty much does exactly as it says on the tin. It makes the shutter react more quickly, therefore only a small amount of light has time to reach the sensor before it closes.

Next you need to set a small aperture (high f.stop) which will also limit the amount of light reaching the sensor. With an SLR this would be around f.16 or higher, with a compact around f.6.3. The small aperture combined with a fast shutter speed will shut out any ambient light and should give you the black background effect, even in bright conditions.

Your strobe also plays a big part of achieving the effect. If there is nothing behind your subject, then your strobes can be positioned wide and pointing slightly outward to avoid backscatter. However if you do have something in the background, then strobe position can make or break the picture. Try to position your strobe so that it is wide and pointing inwards slightly towards the camera port. This should help with making the light just lightly hit your subject and not travel too far past it, making it easier to create the black background with the cameras settings.

This technique can take a few attempts to master. If you find your background isn’t black enough, then put your settings up or try positioning your strobe differently. But once you do start to achieve it, you’ll be able to take some artistic and professional looking shots.

So get out there, have fun and see how black your background can get!

For different photography techniques, have a look at our Shot Type Tips page for inspiration.

There are a few different techniques you can try to give your pictures a more dramatic or professional feel.

The ‘Rule of Thirds’ – This is a concept that has been used in art dating back centuries to 300BC. It has been proven to work and learning this rule will change the way you look at each image you are taking while helping to create pleasing, well balanced images which are easy on the eye.

The Rule of Thirds states that you should break your frame into nine equal parts using two vertical lines and two horizontal lines. Where these lines meet and the lines themselves are the optimum points for placing the main feature of your picture. Eyes draw eyes, so if you are doing a portrait shot, you should try to place your subjects eye on or near one of these lines. If your picture has more than one element, then the subject which you want the viewer to concentrate on should follow one of these lines or points.

Some digital cameras allow you to have the grid on your LCD screen, a very handy tool for when you start out practicing with the Rule of Thirds. Once you get used to it, you will probably find if you switch the grid off you will naturally follow the rule in your pictures.

Lines – the use of lines in your pictures can be very powerful. Horizontal, diagonal and vertical lines can set the mood of the image and can lead the viewer into the picture. Different lines have different impacts and you can look for lines in every picture you take.

For example, using a diagonal line to place your subject can give very dynamic results to your pictures and make them more interesting. Its a technique that works very well with long subjects such as Pipefish, Flutemouths, Trumpet fish etc, but can be a fairly tricky one to master and does take a bit of practice. You can get really great results by trying to fit the whole subject in the the frame, putting the nose and tail at opposite corners, and using different depths of field for different effects. Or you can concentrate on specific parts of the fish such as its snout.

Close-Focus Wide-Angle – this kind of photography can produce stunning images but can be hard to master at the beginning. These type of shots need a distinct subject, proper lighting, proper depth and are best achieved in manual mode. The ideal way to take this type of shot is to get very close to the foreground subject so that it becomes the main focus of the photo. Light it up using your strobe. Then adjust your camera’s shutter speed for lighting the background. It usually helps to get low then shoot up to a bright uncluttered background. However, adding a school of fish or a diver to the background will give particular impact to the image and can produce that ‘wow’ factor. Always ensure your foreground subject is in focus and properly exposed as this is the part of the picture the viewer will usually concentrate on.

Underwater Reflections – these can be mesmerizing and are best captured when the surface of the water is flat and calm and when there is little or no wind. To achieve this type of shot, your subject needs to be close to the surface and the angle you are photographing from is very important – you need to be at a maximum of 42 degrees from the surface for it to work. For example, if you are shooting from underneath the subject, there will be no reflection, but as you move away and come up closer to the surface, the reflection will appear. Try to control your bubbles as they will disturb the surface and could ruin your picture. Consider snorkeling instead of using scuba to avoid this issue.

Artistic Shots – can give different feels to your pictures. Highlighting patterns and textures, colours and abstracts can produce really nice results. It takes a while to develop an artistic eye, but have a close look at corals to start with and photograph them in macro or super macro mode, remembering to film the frame. You may be surprised at the images you create!

Fill The Frame – This is quite a common photo composition and can give quite dramatic results. Pick your subject and have them fully fill the frame of your camera. You dont have to have their whole body in the shot, you can concentrate on particular areas such as head shots or eyes, as long as they take up the whole area of the picture.

If you want to learn more about different composition ideas, why not enroll on one of our underwater photography or videography courses. Or if you have any other enquires or questions, feel free to contact us and we’ll do our best to help if we can.

During the course Mike learned about the basics of white balance and flash photography, we focused on composition, macro shots and silhouettes shots. Mike mastered all aspects instantly and was a truly excellent student.

Also during the course, he was taught how to set up and care for an underwater camera system, learnt about the special considerations underwater photography has from land photography and was shown how to catalogue and edit his pictures in Adobe Lightroom.

For the course, Mike was using our Canon A490 camera in an Ikelite underwater housing, and you can see from the pictures the great results he achieved.

Liquid Lense would also like to say a big thank you to the lovely Porkie, our very friendly resident Porcupine Pufferfish, who lives at Ko Haa Lagoon. Porkie was very fond of Mike and proved to be the perfect model.

Once again well done Mike we are all extremely proud of you! We look forward to seeing more great underwater photographs from you in the future.

All patterns and textures images featured in this gallery have been captured at the dive sites around Ko Lanta.

Underwater Macro Photography is often a perfect way to seek out patterns and textures in your underwater subjects.

Macro shots are perfect choice of image for focusing on the intricate details, textures and patterns of your subjects. It gives you a chance to capture images of things that your eye can struggle to see.

Macro Photography is less dependent on dive conditions than other types of underwater photography and can be a great choice if conditions are less than perfect.

Bad visibility rarely effects close up photos and lack of light is not a problem as your flash or strobe will provide plenty of light on a subject that’s positioned close to the camera’s lens.

Take a look at our Macro Magic article for macro photography tips and techniques to give you ideas for your next patterns and textures underwater photo-shoot.

Consult the Tips and Tricks section for more useful digital underwater photography techniques to help you get the most out of your underwater camera system and learn about other types of underwater shots.

All images are taken by professional Liquid Lense Underwater Digital Imaging Specialists at the dive sites around Ko Lanta, Thailand. Click on any image below to start a slideshow.

Underwater photography competitions are a great way to showcase your photography skills and start to make a name for yourself within underwater photography circles.
There are literally hundreds of online competitons which are open to anyone who takes photos. Some are free, others ask you make donations to conservation projects such as Project AWARE, and some charge entry fee’s either per person or per entry.

For some, its just the recognition of being a winner that makes entering worthwhile, however many of the competitions have fairly substantial prizes, from vouchers and diving equipment, right up to liveaboard trips and dive holidays.

Often the competitions are won by photographers using SLR (single-lens reflex) cameras, but with many excellent prosumer cameras on the market, many have categories specifically for compact cameras, meaning if you have one, you don’t have to compete with the big boys! Thats good news, especially for people just starting out or those who cannot afford or who have no desire to use an SLR underwater.

Viewing other people’s entries and past winners are a great way to see the type of image the judges look for and to get ideas and inspiration for the next time you are out with your camera. Most of the competitions worth their salt look down very harshly on images which show marine life being interfered with, stressed or the photographer causing reactions to get a photo opportunity. Creatures should never be handled or irritated to create a reaction and sedentary ones should never be placed on an alien background, which may result in them being killed. Images showing anything like this are usually disqualified from the competition.

Underwater Photography.com is a great place to start. You can enter one photo a day for free, or if you pay for an account, you can post 2 per day. They are added to the other posts and people can go through and vote for your pictures. These votes do not count towards anything, but if you get ‘likes’ then you know your peers like what you are doing! Each month, images are ‘Shortlisted’, then at the end of the month the ‘Monthly Hotshot’ is chosen.
At the end of the year, the person who has entered the most consistent images wins the World Champion! There are no prizes for this competition, but you get the respect of your peers and the recognition of being a fantastic photographer!

Divephotoguide.com is another well known photography competition. They have a monthly theme and you can enter up to 3 pictures related to that theme. It could be a specific theme such as ‘Turtles’, or it could be more open such as ‘The Colour Yellow’, or ‘Patterns’.
Entry is totally free and the prizes are pretty decent, usually some form of voucher from Backscatter.com with a value of around $200, so very worth entering!

Sportdiver.co.uk run a monthly contest that is judged by the editor. The winner receives £200 to spend at Cameras Underwater and the image is showcased in the monthly magazine.

For more prestigious competitions, there is the BSouP (British Society of Underwater Photographers) who run monthly ‘Focus On‘ competitions for their members from January to August, as well as holding their annual ‘Splash In‘ competition which is open to anyone. There are usually 3 categories and separate prizes are given to images taken with compact cameras.

The prestigious DEEP Indonesia International Underwater Photo Competition is part of a unique series hosted by DivePhotoGuide & Wetpixel, in association with DEEP Indonesia, Indonesia’s first-ever diving, adventure travel and extreme sports expo.

Photographers will compete in seven themed categories to win over $51,000 in prizes, including underwater photo equipment and premium dive travel packages to some of the top photo destinations in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. Indonesia trips include Triton Bay, Raja Ampat, Komodo, Lembeh, Manado, and Bali. The contest includes a category for images that focus on conservation and the marine environment, one specifically for entries taken by compact digital cameras, and one specifically for Indonesian entrants.

The DEEP Indonesia competition is part of a unique series, and together with the Our World Underwater competition, the prize pool is over $120,000 – the biggest in the world. Winners also achieve the glory of being named some of the world’s best underwater photographers, and the wining images will be exposed to millions of readers of dive, travel and photography magazines and websites worldwide. Esteemed judges include leading professional underwater photographers and magazine editors from around the world.

Scuba Symphony run a Facebook competition and the winner is voted for by others on Facebook ‘Liking’ the images. The image with the most ‘Likes’ wins, simple! Prizes range from dive holidays, camera equipment and diving gear. You must make a donation to Project AWARE to be eligible for entry, making it a very worthwhile competition to enter as you are supporting a very important cause. Search for them and ‘Like’ them on Facebook then go to the notes section on their page which gives all the information about entering.

These are just a few of the competitions which are out there, so if you are serious about entering your pictures, try searching for others so your pictures can be seen by as many people as possible.

Entering competitions is fun and can be very worthwhile and rewarding. And you can only win it if you’re in it! So get entering and show off your amazing pictures, you might just be very happy you did!

This is because compared to land photography, underwater photography is a whole different kettle of fish. There are a few fundamental aspects you need to know if you are going to get some decent pictures to show to your friends and family.

Here at Liquid Lense, we know that your holiday pics are important to you, so we aim to help you get the best possible results by offering a little bit more from your camera rental experience. When you rent a camera from us, we’ll give you a free helpful hints and suggestions factsheet which includes some ‘need to know’ basics to get you on your way.

The Factsheet is designed for people who are new to underwater photography or who have been taking pictures for a while with limited success and want a few pointers to improve their images.

Or if you would like some really amazing pictures of your underwater adventure, why not let one of our Professional Photographers capture the memories for you?

For more information on our camera rental services, or to go a step further and enroll on one of our underwater photography or videography courses, please feel free to contact us.