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.

Ko Lanta has 2 main seasons, high season when the weather is hot and dry and when most of the visitors come to the island, and low season when the weather is hot and wet and the island tends to be quieter. There is also peak season that runs from mid December until mid January. This is when the island is at its busiest for the festive period and is most fun!

High season generally runs from November until April when sea conditions are generally calm and gentle with an off shore wind direction, usually meaning small waves and short journey times out to the dive sites. During this time, 2 trips go out every day to the best dive sites in the area. Usually there is a daily trip to Ko Haa, our local dive site, and another to one of the other dive sites in the area, such as Ko Phi Phi or Hin Daeng and Hin Munag.

Visibility during this time tends to be between 15m and 25m at Ko Haa where you have a good chance to see Hawksbill Turtles, schooling Barracuda, Black Tip Reef Sharks, Mantis Shrimps, Pufferfish and Khuls Rays amongst others. Perfect for all types of underwater photography techniques.
The viz at Ko Phi Phi tends to be less and averages between 7m to 12m but has an exceptional diversity of marine life so you tend not to notice. Phi Phi is the home of the Leopard Shark and they can be seen regularly at the sites around this area, as well as Turtles, schools of Snapper and huge Gorgonian Sea Fans.
The sister sites of Hin Daeng and Hin Muang are located 70kms away in the middle of the ocean, so visibility can be changeable but is usually at 15m+. With an astounding array of hunting behaviour to be witnessed, soft corals galore and a very good chance to see Manta Rays during December and January, (although they can be seen at any time of the year here), all photography techniques can be practiced here. However, the sites can sometimes be subjected to fierce currents which can make taking photographs fairly challenging!

Most days are bright and sunny during high season, perfect if you are looking to use natural light to illuminate your subjects or give your images a particular feel. The Lagoon at Ko Haa is perfect for this. With shallow water and lots of critters waiting to pose for you its an ideal place to practice white balance shots.
Luckily, even on a bad day, the reefs around Ko Lanta are still pretty spectacular, and if the conditions aren’t perfect for wide angel shots, there are plenty of fantastic opportunities for practicing your macro techniques. Harlequin Shrimp, Ornate Ghost Pipefish, Cleaner Pipefish, Frog Fish, Sea Moths and Nudibranchs can all be found during the high season and make fantastic macro subjects.

Sunbursts are also a good type of photography to try when the viz isn’t at its best, as long as the sun is shining! With all the light coming into the picture, it tends to make the water appear bright and clear. Pick a subject such as a pretty piece of coral, add in a sunburst and you can make it look breathtaking!

In low season, which is from May until October, we can have our best diving conditions under the surface – 30+ viz, blue blue water and all those fish who stay a bit further off the reef during high season tend to come back due to the fact there are very few divers out at the sites. You can also see a vast assortment of juvenile everything. This is brilliant as you can see the reefs at their best and have them all to yourself, every divers dream! These are ideal conditions for practicing reefscapes and wide angle shots as well as silhouettes. Whalesharks start to make their regular appearances around April/May but can also be seen at any time of the year, you just have to be a bit lucky.

But as it is low season, the weather plays a big part in whether we can take the boat out. The wind picks up and changes direction, so the waves are larger and are sometimes just too big for us to go out. The occasional storm will come through writing off any trips for a few days, then will move on and the conditions return to normal. Often there are days and days with perfect weather; glorious sunshine, calm seas and not a cloud to be seen, then it can change again. We do not usually make trip to Hin Daeng and Hin Muang during low season due to it’s distance off shore.

The months at either side of the seasons – May and September/October – can see a lot of rain and poor weather, so in terms of diving, these are probably the least favourable months to come.

In a nutshell, you can have fantastic photography opportunities all year round. It just depends if you want guaranteed diving with great conditions, or to take the gamble and come in low season when the weather is variable but the diving can be truly spectacular!

Choices, choices………..!

The Go Photo Course is a 1-day introductory course designed to help you get the most out of an underwater camera without taking too much time out of your diving holiday in Ko Lanta.

The Go Photo Course is designed for divers looking to get a quick introduction into underwater photography and those looking to capture some underwater holiday memories to take home and enjoy. You’ll be amazed at how much you can learn in just 1 day!

Liquid Lense run a range of underwater photography and videography courses to suit all levels. Have a look at our Photography Academy and Video Academy and please do not hesitate to contact us for further information.

Ko Lanta is the best place to base yourself if you want to take underwater photographs at some of the top dive sites in Thailand. With spectacular reefs, unmatched marine diversity and great visibility, Ko Lanta offers the convenience of day diving with the chance to enjoy the relaxed and laid-back atmosphere of island life.