Underwater photography is much more difficult than landscape photography which is quite popular. Underwater photography is very much frustrating and due to the special equipment requirements it is quite expensive as well. There is no single magical lens in case of underwater photography. Hence, depending on the subject one has to change the lenses such as wide angle, zoom lenses, telephoto lenses and many more. Consider the following lens tips for creative underwater photography.
- The practical range for lenses for underwater photography is 13mm to 100mm.
- One should not use a super wide angle 13mm lens to take shots of fishes. These are called mid-range zoom lenses. Hence the 13mm-20mm lens is used for large animals and underwater landscapes.
- One should use a 100mm lens in case of sharp macro photography.
- There are underwater creatures that are too anxious of humans. These creatures flee away when approached. In such cases, telephoto lenses are used which allow to capture subjects from a distance.
- Lenses with a large maximum aperture are known as fast lenses. These lenses focus faster and allow in more light. These lenses blur the background and are used when lighting conditions underwater are not good enough.
- One should use a medium angle lens like 28-80mm zoom lens which helps in capturing good fish portraits.
- Wide angle lenses offer the greatest depth of field. Hence, while using wide angle lenses one should shoot by getting as low and as close as possible.
- One should use macro lenses while shooting at night. This is because the macro lens will narrow the angle of composition and hence it minimizes interference.
- There is a term maximum magnification of lens which is related to focusing distance. 1:1 magnification implies that the lens can capture the photo equal to the size of sensor of camera.
Field of view or angle of view gives an indication of how wide the lens is. A telephoto lens has a very narrow angle of view around 10 degrees whereas a 10mm fisheye lens will have a very wide field of view around 180 degrees.