Digital Diving

Canon digital compacts ready for the big blue

Make your subject stand out

Isolating the subject from its background makes the subject 'pop', giving photographs a 3D effect. Using a small aperture and a fast shutter speed will help produce a black background when shooting brightly coloured fish. If the fish is dark, get light behind it and use a slower shutter speed and wider aperture to produce a blue or green water background. Shooting at larger apertures will cause a drop in depth of field, creating a pleasing blurred effect known as 'blokeh' behind a sharply focused subject. Both colour contrast and blokeh have been used to get this fish to 'pop'.

Canon Powershot S30, 1/60sec, F3.5, Exp. Comp. -0.7EV, White Balance Cloudy, Flash On, Program AE, Zoom 60mm (based on 35mm format), Macro Mode