Advanced Underwater Photography Course
 

The underwater photography internship is designed and focused on the dive professional who wants to learn the skills and experience that will set you up for a career within the dive industry! The focus of this internship is to give you an extensive overview of photo, video, lighting and editing techniques used to create a professional workflow of media.

​

During the internship you will learn how to take underwater portraits of divers, wide-angle reef scapes and creative macro pictures and videos. You will be using a compact professional and powerful Sony a6000 mirrorless camera along with a professional Fantasea line housing. You are also welcome to use your own camera gear and housing, should you have this already and want a course bespoke to your personal setup. For lighting, you will learn how to use both strobes by Sea & Sea and also LED’s by Kraken Sports lights. 

 

The course follows a structure of theory workshops followed by practical photo dives. Firstly, in a confined water setting to familiarise yourself with the information learnt in class, before mastering these skills on the reef. After a day of diving we will debrief and discuss the images captured where guidance in post-processing will be given as well as image critique. You will learn how to upload, edit, and export your images using programmes such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic.

 

A photo assignment will be asked for at the end of each section of the course. Your best images will be uploaded and shared on the BICD Instagram and Facebook social channels. To complete the internship, you will submit a final assignment encompassing everything learnt during the course. You will create a photo package as if you were following a “for-fun” diver.

 

​

Key learning outcomes from the course

 

• How to choose the best underwater camera system for you – detailed overview of cameras, housings, ports, lights, trays, arms etc.

• Pre-dive camera preparations

• Maintenance and care for an underwater camera housing – o-rings, seals, leak detectors and rinsing

• Understanding of manual camera settings – aperture, shutter speed and ISO

• How to take great underwater images using composition principles such as rule-of-thirds and golden ratio

• LED and strobe lighting techniques and positioning 

• Buoyancy control with an underwater camera set up and body and fin awareness

• How to edit images in Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom Classic 

• Learning how to share your images, optimizing your work with your computer, storage and more

• Understanding important areas of underwater photography with detailed workshops in diver portraiture, macro photography and wide-angle

• Experience creating a 20x photo package for a “for-fun” diver/divers

 

​

To complete this internship, some previous experience in photography is required but you do not need to be an expert to begin. A bespoke programme can also be built around your current underwater photography abilities.

​

The duration of this internship is usually one month and roughly 20 dives.