Holding my breath

I learned two things about underwater photography on my recent trip to Hawaii. Because I had a sinus infection for most of the trip I was unable to scuba dive and could only snorkel.

The first thing I learned is that it can be difficult to get a good shot underwater when you don't have air to breath. I was working along a shallow reef one day and decided to dive down to take a few pictures. Without a scuba tank I only had about a minute and a half to find, compose and take the shot before I had to surface for air. This meant everything was rushed which made it hard to get any really good photos as you can see by the ones that I posted.

The second thing I learned is you have to watch the currents along a shallow reef. Since the water was shallow it moved around a lot more which in turn moved me around a lot more. This made for a lot of blurry pictures and a time that I was almost hamburger meat. I got just a little too close to the reef once with an outgoing wave and just about got drug over the reef. I was able to get a quick hand hold on the reef itself as I was being carried out before the wave drug me completely across it. Needless to say, I stayed a few feet farther from the reef after that!

The first two pictures were taken along the bottom of the reef and the third photo was taken from shore as a perspective. If you look closely at the bottom of the wave on the right you can see the reef through the water.