December 02, 2022
PADI Digital Underwater Photographer
Please meet Tom, your diving buddy, at the Dive Base Academy of Sindbad Club! Tom has been diving with the Dive Base Academy for four years. He has completed many PADI courses with us and has become very familiar with numerous dive sites and underwater wonders of the Red Sea.
Tom will take you on an exciting tour to familiarize you with our diving courses at the Dive Base Academy in Hurghada. Tom will be your trusted host introducing the various exciting diving venues the Red Sea offers.
If you have any questions about our diving courses or dive sites of the Red Sea, please, ask Tom!
Enjoy!
What can you tell us about digital photography underwater, Tom?
I once dived at Gota Abu Ramada with the Dive Base Academy. It's locally known as 'The Aquarium', which was fantastic. The sheer number of fish and coral formations defy your imagination. The amount of schooling fish is just staggering. You’ll see goatfish, bannerfish, masked butterflyfish, triggerfish and others. It was spectacular, and I regretted not having a camera.
We can guess what you did next, Tom?
I followed the PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Course with the Dive Base Academy. I wanted to learn how to capture underwater panoramas.
What does it take to follow the Digital Underwater Photographer Course, Tom?
This is a specialty course. You must have a PADI (Junior) Open Water Divers certificate (or equivalent) or higher, at least ten years of age. Of course, you also need parental approval when you're under aged.
What do you learn when you follow the course, Tom?
You do two dives with a compact camera or an action camera. Of course, you may bring your camera. You learn that orientating underwater is different from orientation on land. Underwater focal points may seem slightly distorted. You may be closer than you think you are. This is important when you want to capture moving creatures.
You will become familiar with the basics of good composition of underwater images and learn practical techniques to take great photos with your digital camera.
The Dive Base Academy teaches you how to reach a good balance underwater to avoid your camera swinging. I now also know a rule of thumb called ‘focus’. It dictates that you do not follow a fish with your camera but let the fish enter your scene.
What impressed you most, Tom?
That has to be a composition technique called ‘rules of thirds’. When you focus on your background, you must visually divide it into three sections in your mind. There’s even an expression for it, called ‘triptych’, like dividing it into three sections. When your fish enters the scene, it shouldn’t feature in the middle of the center part. It would be best to capture it where the thirds touch each other. This technique suggests ‘movement’ and ‘depth’. It makes your creation less ‘static’. You’ll learn all this at the Dive Base Academy!