The Underwater Imaging Academy at La Paz is a week of learning and diving and enjoying yourself. It has been developed to teach you how to properly use your photographic equipment and take really good underwater images. We go beyond the basics to creative and advanced photographic techniques. It is for those with film cameras, digital cameras, and video cameras. There are no requirements other than a scuba diver certification and a willingness to learn.

Bonus Offer

The PADI Digital Underwater Photography Specialty Course is a specialty course certification. It is available to but not required of students enrolled in the Underwater Imaging Academy.

Overview

The PADI Digital Underwater Photography Specialty Course is a two-part (Level One and Level Two) introduction to digital underwater photography centered around point-and-shoot digital cameras. The course helps student divers develop the knowledge, skills and practical techniques necessary to obtain excellent photographs with a digital camera, even on their first photo dive. Level One is an introduction to course skills and knowledge. In Level Two you learn about file formats, resolution settings, making images lighter or darker, getting good color, composition, downloading photographs into your computer, and adjusting them to look better. Participants who successfully complete Level Two qualify for the PADI Digital Underwater Photographer certification.

Prerequisites for the PADI Underwater Photography Course certification

You must be a PADI Certified Open Water Diver or a PADI Junior Open Water Diver or have a qualifying certification from another training organization or be a snorkeler.

Training Materials

You must use the PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Manual and PADI Digital Underwater Photographer White Balance Slate. Additional cost for materials and cert card: $60

What You can Expect

1. "Show me" will be your most common instructional direction. All interactions above and underwater emphasize learning and doing. For example, after discussing how to white balance a camera, you will practice it with your own camera and then show your instructor that you understand and can do it correctly.
2. Our initial dives will be in shallow water. You have stronger light and better colors in shallow water, but you also have long no stop times and air supplies last longer. As a technical and artistic skill, digital photography requires practice. You will learn more if you can take 60 images at 20 feet than if you dive to100 feet and only have time to shoot 10.
3. We will match the conditions to the assignment. We will dive in the clearest water possible. If the dive takes place in low visibility, we may turn off our strobes and shoot ambient light only or switch to macro mode for close-up focusing.
4. We will choose photogenic dive sites. La Paz has so many sites with inspiring photo subjects that every site will provide photogenic subjects.
5. Students will always follow safe diving practices. Since underwater photography takes some concentration, divers can be distracted from following safe diving practices. It is more important to be safe than to get the shot.
6. You will learn how to be an environmentally-friendly photographer. Preservation of the underwater world is more important than getting good photographs. We will practice proper buoyancy control, the importance of not touching aquatic life, how to secure equipment so it does not damage the environment or pose an entanglement hazard.
7. While it is best to have your own equipment, we will have equipment available for hands-on learning.

A Sample of the Subjects Covered

• What type system best fits your needs and budget
• Basic terms such as white balance, resolution, optical zoom, storage formats, memory cards, etc
• How to prepare and care for your underwater system
• How to conduct a pre-dive system check
• How to conduct a pre-dive leak test
• How to choose image resolution
• How to get proper exposure, contrast and sharpness by controlling shutter speed and aperture
• How to get good color by using the white balance control
• Lenses: wide angle, macro and zoom, when to use which, and how to use them
• Composition tips, dos and don'ts
• Examining and adjusting exposure underwater
• Using built-in flash underwater
• Using external flash underwater
• Downloading images
• Backing up images
• Sorting and organizing images
• Processing images
• Outputting images

The PADI Digital Underwater Photography Specialty Course is based on the SEA method, an acronym for Shoot, Examine, Adjust. The Underwater Imaging Academy will guide you through your classroom and underwater lessons using the SEA method.

Note: The PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Specialty Certification may be credited as Adventure Dive Two toward the Advanced Open Water Diver course. It may also be credited as a specialty certification toward the PADI Master Scuba Diver rating.

Click here to download the 2006 Digital Week Agenda