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How exciting


If you are just starting out in the underwater world of photography, then this is the PERFECT place to start. In this guide I will talk about the right and wrong lenses (and how I made the wrong choice when selecting my lens), what settings I use for shooting underwater, and something exciting you won't want to miss out on.

Being in the water is the best feeling. It's quiet, calm, and a completely different world.

Being in the water is the best feeling. It's quiet, calm, and a completely different world.

Now lets dive in

Choosing the right lens


When I first started underwater photography, choosing my lens had me going back and forth with so much confusion.

Is a 14mm too small? Is a 28mm too big?

Should I use a prime or a zoom lens?


In the end I ended up choosing 28-75mm lens… which ended up being too big... BUT... Don’t get me wrong, although it was too big, I did still end up using it for a year!

I now use a 14-30mm lens which works amazing underwater, I can zoom out to 14mm to get the full body and background in the shot or I can zoom in to 30mm to get the close up details without the distortion. If I know that the water is going to be amazingly clear, I still opt for my 28-75mm but for the most part, I use my 14-30mm. Photographers will always go back and forth as to whether using a prime lens or a zoom lens is best. But for underwater photography, having a zoom lens is what I recommend. That way you can zoom out to get the full body and background, and you can zoom in to get the beautiful detailed close ups all without making your model fuzzy, hazy, or distorted.


If you are looking for the perfect lens, I’d recommend a zoom lens with the minimum size of 14mm+

The best settings


If it is bright and sunny around 2 hours before sunset, I will generally have my camera settings set as the following;

shutter speed 1/500+ aperture 2.8 ISO 100+ The lowest I’ll normally let my shutter speed go is 1/350, as we want to get those crisp images, unless I’m trying to capture motion blur. As the sun starts to set, my ISO will go up and my shutter speed will go down. Don’t be afraid to bump your ISO! But do be strategic in your timing, you don’t want the sun to set and still be out in the ocean shooting.

If it is in a pool, you would still have similar settings, but the time of day should be different than at the beach. I used to think that everything had to be evening, but turns out that for the most part, shooting at midday is best for pool sessions.

Thank you for reading


If you enjoyed this and feel like it answered a few of your questions, please join me on my instagram stories @soulfyyourseducation where I’ll be holding polls and answering questions

Soulfully yours, Zoe

"Not only did I have the best experience, this workshop has given me the fire in my belly back"

Jade Rose ~ Precious little treasures

"Learnt so much with guidance from talented Zoe and can't wait to combine them into my stortelling sessions"

Qiao ~ ciaobella_photography