
Back to Basics
Tips to ease back into the underwater photography world We all know that when you do not use a skill, you get rusty, muscle memory fades, and things you used to know by heart get a bit foggy. Unfortunately, underwater photography is no different. Many of us have been stuck indoors for what seems like […]

Cyclone’s Winter Warmer with Mario Vitalini
by Penny Granycome Having dived several liveaboards in the Red Sea during the last few years and never taken a camera underwater, the time felt right for a trip to extend my comfort zone and see the possibilities. I had always felt underwater photography something apart, the stunning images produced by great photographers unobtainable. Yet […]

Inward lighting. Make your subjects pop
Some images stand out more than others. I often asked myself why, and to be sure, there are lots of distinctive reasons. But the usual answer is not because the subject is a rare or unique creature. In many cases, the reason is the subject is perfectly isolated without distracting elements that draw your attention […]

Critters in Lembeh. Lembeh-Gulen shootout.
If you like small and wired critters, very few places in the world can beat this little section of North Sulawesi, the Lembeh Strait. I’ve been lucky enough to visit the area on three occasions and every time it blows my mind. Last week I joined a group of underwater photographers competing in the shootout […]

Shark Quest Photography: Mario’s Trip report
Sitting back at my desk I’, having a quiet moment to think about last week’s trip. It was the first Shark Quest photography workshop of this year, and what a great trip it was. And if I had to sum it up in one word that word would be… oceanics. Very close up oceanics. Well, […]

Shooting sharks with ambient light
When photographing pelagics such as sharks the use of strobes is sometimes not possible. This may be because the animals stay to far away or becauselocal rules do not allowe it. Today I will talk about shooting sharks with ambient light. In today’s blog, I will talk about how to achieve the best possible results out […]

Wide angle. Back to basics
Today I’m going back to one of the basics topics in underwater photography, wide-angle lenses. One of the most repeated sentences when coaching underwater photographers is “get closer” and there is a very simple reason. Water is much denser than air. It will absorb and dissipate light causing the image quality and contrast to rapidly […]

Snell’s, a window to the sky
If you want to get a really impressive wide angle shot, there are a few compositional elements you can always rely on. The Snell’s window is one one of them. What is Snell’s Window? It is named after the Dutch mathematician Willebrord Snellius who discovered the refraction law we know today as Snell’s Window. Is […]

Creative editing 101 Let’s get “arty”
This blog is all about creative editing with the aim of changing the mood and feel of a single image. Is not about dealing with imperfections (cloning, erasing or cropping). Unleash the creative side of your editing suite. Just one image and a little imagination are all it takes. On a rainy day, there are […]

Arms, the more the merrier. Shutting octopus
The Cephalopods family includes octopus, cuttlefish and squids, without a doubt some of the most strange and interesting creatures in the sea. Incredibly intelligent these beasties are for sure some of the favourites of divers and photographers. On this blog, I will talk about the most common member of the family, the octopus. There are around […]