underwater Photo Course :: (4) Light Underwater :: Predicting your results

The first thing we must come to terms with is that our camera 'sees' light and color very differently to the way our eyes do. When we walk out of bright sunlight into a room lit by an incandescent light bulb our eyes will adjust automatically for the different levels of illumination and Color TemperatureThe precise color of a light source. of light source. Our camera records the scenes very differently. With no subjective interpretation color casts are recorded accurately.

Exactly the same thing happens when we go underwater. On a deep wreck there may be enough light to see by, but not enough to allow photography without excessively long exposures. Similarly, the color of the light is affected. As we go deeper it is like placing progressively more colored filters over the lens.

Light is the raw material of photography. When we 'make an exposure' we record the light reflected from our subject. Such is the level of camera technology these days, that we could take successful pictures in almost complete ignorance of the characteristic properties of light, by letting the camera make decisions for us.

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