Oceans Below
Underwater Video & Photography
Koh Tao | Thailand
Based on the vibrant and buzzing island of Koh Tao, Thailand, Oceans Below Underwater Video Productions and Training offers courses that are recognized by diving industry insiders as the best, most comprehensive professional level underwater videography training available. We train aspiring underwater videographers in the art of underwater video in a 3, 5 or 12 day course. If you prefer to learn to create both topside and underwater video for social media messaging and promos, we have expert-level knowledge to help you maximize your exposure. Check out our underwater videography training courses.
In case you are more interested in doing an underwater photography course, we offer 3 and 5 day courses or we can custom make a course to meet your time frame and objective. You will be trained to photograph some of the stunning underwater scenery and marine life of Koh Tao, using strobes and shooting with natural light. During your underwater photography training course you will be using high-quality Sony mirrorless cameras and Nauticam Underwater Housings. If you prefer to use your own equipment, you are welcome to do so.
Oceans Below also produces professional and creative promotional videos to help broadcast your brand using the latest, high quality video equipment. In addition, our extensive library of underwater 4K and HD stock footage from around the world are available for use in any of your productions. Get in touch for more information or to find out about our licensing and prices. Finally, our team at Oceans Below arranges exciting, off-the-beaten-path underwater adventure to some of the coolest dive and freedive locations in the world. Check out our upcoming trips here.
There’s no way around it, social media is becoming more and more important. Oceans Below offers now social media content creation for your dive shop or brand. Our creative team specializes in brand storytelling, and will make content that will follow your brand guidelines and the trends on the different social media platforms.
Showreel: 4k Underwater Footage
Underwater Photo & Videography FAQs
There are a few things to consider, but for more information, check out my blog “10 basic beginner tips for shooting better underwater video”. Here are a few tips to get you started:
1. Framing your shot
The first thing to consider when taking any video shot is how the shot is framed, you might have heard of the “rule-of-thirds”. It is a common rule of thumb followed by underwater videographers to spice up their composition.
2. Moving shots in underwater videography
Move around a little. Videos are so much more interesting if they contain a variety of motion.
3. Avoid shaky movements, try holding steady
Sounds easy, right? After all you are submersed in water and all movement should be nice and fluid. Wrong! It is actually very hard to hold a camera steady while swimming around or hovering.
4. Stay shallow and get close to your subject
If you want to make sure your footage is of the highest quality possible by using sunlight, 5-12m is the ideal depth. Get close to your subject to minimize the loss of light.
5: Check out your footage
Once you have finished your dives, check your video footage on a computer. On the camera LCD screen it might look great, but on a big screen you may realize some shots are out of focus.
- Take a course or workshop on underwater photography with Oceans Below. We have 3 and 5 day courses and you can learn with your own camera or try out some of ours.
- Read your camera manual carefully and figure out how to white balance, change settings and focus manually. And then see if you can do all that from your housing too.
- Follow some good photographers on Instagram and analyze their photos. What light are they using, which settings, etc. Oftentimes, photographers will add the settings to a post. Otherwise don’t be shy to ask.
- Read articles about underwater photography online. There is so much out there!
- And then there is Dive, practice and shoot!!!
First of all you need a compact or an SLR /Mirrorless camera body. If you choose for a compact, you will need a housing for it and maybe add a wet macro + wet wide angle lens.
If you go for a mirrorless/SLR set-up you will need a camera body and a wide lens with a dome port and for macro a macro lens with a flat port to accommodate the lenses. You also need port extensions, zoom gear and focus gear.
Rechargable Batteries and chargers for everything, lens cleaning kit (air blower, lens paper)
A couple memory cards, 64GB cards are great.
You can sell your best HD and 4K underwater footage on different platforms. Some known ones are Shutterstock, VideoHive, Pond5, istock, Adobe Stock and Storyblocks. I personally like Pond5, because you can set your own prices and they pay out up to 50% of your price monthly on all sales.
If you make it a habit to upload at least 30 clips every month, you will slowly see your sales increase. And who doesn’t like a passive income every month?
You’ve accumulated a lot of underwater video footage on your last dive trip. So now, what’s next? Now it’s time to edit it into something people will watch. A good underwater video tells a story.
Try thinking about the editing before you get in the water. The best thing to do is plan ahead to avoid overshooting. Of course, if you have an amazing encounter with a whaleshark, don’t just stop shooting after 3 shots!
Try to remember that you will need certain shots for your edit; like for example cut-away shots. Don’t make your shots too short either, you can cut out the best part afterwards. Clips of 8 to 30 seconds work well. Try getting Wide, Medium and Close up shots to make your edit more interesting.
Keep the video short and to the point. Between 1 and 3 minutes is long enough! Only put in your best footage. Be ruthless about cutting out clips that don’t add anything to the final movie.
Keep your edit simple. There’s no need to add too many different transitions and filters in. Especially for a nice underwater story.
Find the music for your video before you start editing so you can line up the action in your clips (if you have any) to certain parts of the music. There are many royalty free music track, free to use, out there.
Next thing will be the color correction. Hopefully you got the right white balance when you were shooting to start with, but it might be necessary to color correct if a clip is a bit too red or too green. Try matching the clips throughout the whole video so they match.
The last thing to add are the titles and credits. And then it’s time to share your video on social media with your friends and family!
© 2023 Oceans Below Co. Ltd
4/15 Moo 1, Koh Tao, Suratthani 84360, Thailand
Tel/Whatsapp: +66 81 268 20 31
