THE WATER RULE + CLOSE IS GOOD+THE ELEPHANT RULE

Challenge #2:  Find any dive magazine, or look at any dive business web site, and look at the photos.   Unless they are macro or close up photos, EVERY one of them has the combination of all of these rules.  So, again, all you have to do is follow them on every shot you take and you're getting better already.  Try these sites for examples.

http://www.padi.com/scuba/default.aspx

http://www.intova.net/gallery.html

WHERE IS THE LIGHT?   There are two sources of light!  It's either above you, or you bring it with you. 

I'm not going to talk about strobes or underwater lights BECAUSE you've got to be comfortable with all of the basics before you start adding your own light.  A lousy picture that doesn't follow the stupid easy rules doesn't get any better.  It's now just a lousy picture with more light.

Sunlight underwater is affected by tides, sediment, plankton, and probably one of the most important is surface conditions. 

If it's choppy or you have lots of water movement overhead, the light rays are bent and scattered all over the place. And, if there's sediment in the water the particles actually absorb some of the light.

Don't forget #1: Light bounces. Unless you are taking a picture of the sun, you are always dealing with reflected light u/w.  It has to hit something, bounce off of it, and then into the camera.  Anything in the way of this reflected light can definitely affect your images.

Don't forget #2: Distance that light travels. Lets say you are 4' away from your subject and you are diving at 40'  Because the light has to travel from the surface down to the subject and then to your camera, the total distane is 44'. This is why the color loss we have when we go deeper is the combination of two distances.

The left image was taken from about 15 ' away, the other about 6' away, depth was 40 ft.   Notice that the colors are not as muted at the front of the coral head when you get closer. The lens was a 16mm Sea and Sea wide angle lens.

Contrast is very important as you need shadows around your subject to help emphasize it.  The closer you can get the less likely it is that the effect of sediment or "dirty" water conditions will reduce the shadows that you need.

Both of these photos were taken with a wide angle lens less than 3' from the subject.  The visibility was less than 40' at both locations. Notice the contrast that the shadows create.

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