5 Mistakes to avoid when filming underwater

For some of us, our passion for scuba diving is the adventure of exploring our oceans but also the desire to capture our underwater encounters. The prospect of translating these moments into captivating images and video footage creating exhilarating, fulfilling memories is very rewarding. Yet, at times, this pursuit can transform into a vexing challenge, leaving you unsatisfied with the outcomes you envisioned. Such experiences might even discourage you from embracing your camera anew, casting doubts on future dives. What a regrettable scenario that would be!

Jumping ahead many years today I am simply using my GoPro Black 8 and my iPhone 14 shooting mainly underwater videos with some photos. Yes, my iPhone 14 with the new housing to the market DIVEVOLK Sea Touch 4 Max. More about this housing later though!

My intention is to share insights from a professional videographer that could shield you from these pitfalls I still personally experience by spotlighting the top blunders often encountered by us novice underwater videographers.

Matthias Lebo an established Underwater Videographer/Cinematographer living in Switzerland has personally immersed himself in underwater filming for over a decade and imparted the art to fellow divers since 2016, whether through personalised guidance or the treasure trove of knowledge.  You can access Matthias’s YouTube channel  or Matthias’ online courses. 

Teaching countless students, the rudiments of underwater filming has unveiled a common thread – Matthias has established the 5 most common mistakes he believes are easily avoided by simply knowing about them and keeping them in the back of your mind when you take your camera down on your next underwater adventure. Enjoy the read and then look forward to seeing your passion for underwater videography improve over time.

Enjoy the read.   No matter what level you are at in your underwater videography you will come away with some great tips, points to remember for your next dive. If you are new to the sport and want to capture all your amazing experiences witnessed underwater then I can only encourage you to sign up for Matthias, Underwater Videography Course.

5 mistakes to avoid when filming underwater by Matthias Lebo

I’m writing these lines today to help you avoid such a situation by sharing with you the top 5 mistakes scuba divers make when starting out with underwater videography.

Personally I’ve been filming underwater for over 12 years and teaching other divers about underwater videography since 2016 – whether that has been in traditional 1-on-1 teaching scenarios, through free content on my YouTube channel or my online courses. 

After having taught many underwater videography beginners the basics of filming underwater, I have noticed that most of these divers were struggling with the same problems and making the same or very similar mistakes. Luckily the 5 most common mistakes are easily avoided by simply knowing about them and keeping them in the back of your mind when you take your camera down on your next underwater adventure. Ready?! Here they come…

Mistake #1 – Going too deep

As you’ve learned during your Open Water Course, light – and therefore colours as well – disappear the deeper down you go. In order to get the brightest conditions and the most natural looking colours on your footage you want to try to stay as shallow as possible. Ideally you want to film somewhere between 5 and 10 meters of depth.

Sure, sometimes there are good reasons to go deeper than 10 meters, let’s say if you want to film a wreck that is at a greater depth or some specific animal or scenery. Just keep in mind that the deeper down you go, the darker and bluer your footage is going to be, naturally. I’m not saying that you can’t get good looking footage down in 30 meters of water, but it definitely is more challenging, and it will most likely require additional equipment like underwater video lights and/or filters to achieve. So if you want to make it as easy as possible for you to capture nice, vibrant colours, focus your filming on the shallower part of your dive.

And that’s not just because of the better-looking colours you’ll end up with. Staying shallow also means that you’ll be using less of your air and therefore end up with longer dive times and more time to capture that perfect clip.

Mistake #2 – Staying too far away from your object

Water can be a tricky element. It’s a lot denser than air and “swallows” a lot more light. This means, that if we film our object of interest at a further distance, not only is it going to be very small and barely visible on the footage, but the colours are going to be rather flat and uninteresting.

Make sure to get as close as possible to the object you’re filming, without obviously harassing the animal – we’ll talk a little more about why you shouldn’t harass marine later. By minimising the amount of water in between your camera and your object, you will get more natural, saturated colours, a clearer image and most of the time an overall more pleasing viewing experience for your audience.

Now just to be clear, there is nothing wrong with capturing your traditional wide angle establishing shot, which you are planning on using to set the scene and start a specific sequence. They can also be very well used as transitional shots. But if all of your shots are wide angle with your main objects fairly small somewhere within that shot, your films are going to lack something, no matter how good the other footage is. The keyword here is intimacy. Getting close-up and personal with marine life only happens if you – you guessed it – get some close-up shots. They don’t have to be macro shots, but you want to clearly put your object in the focus of your clip and make them the star of that scene. Having said that, be careful not to damage the environment while trying to get close enough to your object. If it’s just not possible to get a more close up shot without doing damage or even endangering yourself, it goes without saying that you should simply enjoy the moment leaving your camera aside and wait for the next opportunity.

Mistake #3 – Using automatic white balance

Why should we mess around with setting our white balance manually when modern day cameras will set the white balance automatically for us? Well, as with many other areas of our life, relying blindly on something to work its magic – just because it can – is not always the best option and can lead to unwanted results.

Modern cameras use a sophisticated algorithm (different from manufacturer to manufacturer and sometimes even between different models of the same manufacturer) to determine what colour temperature needs to be set to achieve natural looking colours when using the camera in automatic white balance mode. This has been improved over the years and works fairly well on most cameras nowadays. Unfortunately, those algorithms don’t really work underwater because – as discussed in “mistake #1” – the deeper down you go the more of the colour red is going to disappear. But our camera – not knowing that we’re underwater – assumes that there is the same amount of red colour present as on the surface. And that’s the simple reason why you’ll end up with blueish looking footage (or greenish if you’re diving i.e. in a lake), if you let the camera auto white balance for you.

Yes, there are cameras out there that have a “DIVE” preset on their white balance options, which warms up your image or – in simple words – adds some extra red to your scene. But even these cameras don’t know how deep you are at any given time and how much red they need to add. They’re working with an assumed/average depth, which sometimes works well, and sometimes doesn’t. It’s like a gamble and I personally wouldn’t want to rely on it.

If you’ve been taking photos underwater you might say now “But Matthias, when I take photos underwater, I don’t worry about the white balance and just correct it later on the computer”. That’s a fair point, I have to admit, but I bet you’re saving your photos as RAW files which gives you just that option to change parameters like white balance even after you’ve taken the photo. Admittedly this works with video as well, at least to a certain degree, but unfortunately, there are very few consumer cameras out on the market that will record RAW video, and if you use one of those cameras to film underwater, then you’re probably already familiar with all the points that I’m making here today.

So how can you solve this issue if you can’t record RAW video? Well, the best way to get your underwater white balance as accurate as humanly possible is to manually white balance your camera. You typically use a white or grey card, hold it in front of the lens, point the camera in the direction you’ll be taking your next shot and press the manual white balance button. Ideally, you do this before every single clip you’re taking, but at least every couple of meters you change your depth. I know this sounds like a lot of work and an extra hassle during your dives. And I’m not going to lie to you, it certainly is more complicated than just shooting away without thinking about your white balance down there. But, if you want to get the best results, you’ll have to put the extra effort into it and there really isn’t a way how you can get around this.

Mistake #4 – Too little variation in shooting angles

Let’s now talk about what makes a sequence of underwater clips interesting to watch. A good story helps, for sure, but so does a good variation of shooting angles. Have you ever watched an underwater film – maybe put together by one of your dive buddies – where each of the clips used was pretty much the same type of shot (wide angle shot of a reef, a fish from the side, etc.)? I bet you didn’t find it very interesting, right?!

Try mixing up the shots that you’re taking by thinking about different ways of how you can present your object or the scene to your viewer. It’s always better to get a variety of different shots (top-down, eye-level, bottom-up) of each of your objects while you’re at it. Try not to just grab the same shot of each of the objects you come across during your dives, but consciously mix it up a bit. Not only is this going to make your editing much easier, but it’s also more engaging and will keep your audience watching for longer, which in the end is what all of us underwater videographers want. And don’t forget to use a good mix of wide shots, mid shots and close-ups.

Top-down view:

Bottom-up view:

Eye-level view:

Mistake #5 – Chasing after wild life

This is a behaviour I oftentimes witness with rather inexperienced divers. They see a marine creature during their dives and are determined to take a video of that animal, no matter what. So they start swimming toward the object of desire. At first, they swim slowly and calmly. Once they realize the animal is “getting away”, they increase their swimming speed, desperately trying to keep up with the – naturally much faster – animal, while recording their chase. This approach of filming marine life normally ends up with a bunch of videos of fishtails and other creatures swimming away from the camera. Not only is this a poor way of getting good underwater footage, but it will also stress the affected animals, which obviously is not something you want to do as an underwater videographer. We want to show the animal in its natural behaviour and not while it’s trying to get away from us. Preferably you try to let the marine life come up to you rather than the other way around. This only works though if you don’t rush through your dive. Take it easy, relax, pick a spot and stay there for a little while. Observe your surrounding and you’ll be amazed how curious and inquisitive some marine life is if you give them a chance. I’ve had some of my best underwater wildlife encounters on dives where I hardly moved at all and tried to become part of the scene.

And there you have it. Those are the five most commonly made mistakes I witness regularly by new underwater videographers. If you want to step up your underwater videography game, try to avoid making these mistakes yourself. Your underwater footage will look much better instantly, and it will be a lot more fun capturing your underwater adventures at the same time.

If you want to learn more about underwater videography check out my complete guide to underwater videography “Learn to Film Underwater Online Course”.