PADI UNDER WATER PHOTOGRAPHY SPECIALTY COURSE CAPE TOWN – INTRODUCTION

One of the best parts about scuba diving is being able to capture the memories of your incredible underwater experiences.  It’s the beautiful underwater photographs that draw many people to scuba diving in the first place.

Whether you fancy yourself as a budding underwater scuba dive photographer or you just want to have a special visual documentation of your underwater experiences, the Underwater Photography Speciality is what makes all the difference between a quick blurry snapshot and a truly professional looking photograph while diving!

Being able to take great shots with ease, is what will make your photos the envy of all of your friends, and also provide great souvenirs of your very best dives.

Quick overview of the PADI Underwater Photography Specialty Course in Cape Town

  • You must have your PADI Open Water scuba dive certification
  • Duration: 2 scuba dives (minimum 1 day)
  • Minimum age:  10
  • This is a two part course.

    Level One:
    Being in the pool or confined open water diving where you will learn about the equipment, preparation of your underwater camera and housing and how to take environmentally friendly photos.

    Level Two:
    You learn about file formats, resolution settings and image adjustment.
  • Bring your swimsuit, sunscreen, towel and a snack.

PADI UNDER WATER PHOTOGRAPHY SPECIALTY COURSE OUTLINE

We meet each morning at the Into the Blue shop in Cape Town as our central starting point. Here we do registration, theory and we also get your scuba equipment. Meeting times are normally at 09:15. You can expect to be finished between 3 and 6 in the afternoon, depending on where we are diving on the day. Your scuba course includes both theory and practical aspects and consists of:

Theory

Reading the PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Manual and completing and reviewing the Knowledge Reviews.

The following is part of your theory:

  • Level One:
    • Digital Revolution
    • Digital Cameras
    • Underwater Camera Systems
    • Underwater Photography
    • Basic Underwater shooting
    • PADI SEA Method
    • After the dive
  • Level Two:
    • Workflow overview
    • Downloading images
    • Backing up images
    • Sorting and organizing images
    • Processing images
    • Sharing images

Practical

  • Level One:
    • Entry and exit techniques
    • Basic underwater photography techniques
  • Level Two:
    • Assemble and disassemble camera
    • Practicing contrast, colouring, exposure, composition
    • Demonstrate PADI SEA method

PADI UNDER WATER PHOTOGRAPHY SPECIALTY COURSE – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

  1. Do you provide a camera or must we have our own?
    We do provide a camera for rent, however it is nicer if you have your own then you will be able to get used to the camera’s settings.

  2. Do we get to keep our own pictures?
    Certainly ! We will be happy to put all your pictures on a memory stick for you.

  3. How advanced is this course?
    This scuba dive course deals with the basics of underwater photography – such as white balance, focus, framing, and basic editing. If you are a professional photographer, you would know most of what we teach in this course – only the underwater part of the course would be new to you.

What have others said about Into the Blue Scuba Dive Center?

Globetrekker Oxford

“Top marks for safety and professionalism”....

The reason for giving five stars is not because my dive day was good - it was horrible, a complete washout, no viz, unpleasant swell, just all round yucky conditions.

However, that's nature, and dive operators can do nothing about it. What all dive operators should do is be as professional and customer-focused as the guys from ITB diving.

First thing to note is that ITB is considerably cheaper (by almost 1000.- Rand) than Simonstown operators, which is baffling considering that they also have the transport cost from Cape Town to budget for.

DMs, Instructors and Shopfloor staff are all super friendly and helpful; I even got picked up from my Cape Town digs and dropped off afterwards, free of charge.

On the boat, I saw all the emergency and redundancy gear I like to see: twin engines (VERY important!), Oxygen, comms gear, flares, the lot. Briefings were thorough, and buddy check was insisted on.

The trip to Seal Rock in the RIB was fun in the swell, but when we got there the captain did not let us dive because of the unsafe conditions. Disappointing as this was, he was totally right. Low tide and heavy swells are a dangerous combination this close to the rocks, and as for trying to get back into a RIB in seas like this....
We then tried the PMB wreck, where zero viz and nasty vertical swell separated the group and forced us out of the water after 25 minutes.

The captain did offer to try another spot but was honest enough to tell us that in his opinion it was going to be rubbish everywhere, and so we called it a day.

Back at the dive shop, we were all offered a re-schedule, but as I'm out of time I was given half my money back. I know from experience that this is not the norm in the industry, sadly.

Into the Blue is a top notch outfit that does things by the book, with a strong safety focus and very customer centered, on top of offering reasonable pricing and a fair refund policy. You'll have a hard time to find a better operator anywhere around. They'll definitely be my first choice when I pass through next, and for doing my IDC sometime this year.

Just hope mother nature will be in better mood then.

Visited April 2017

 

Carina Koenig

Epic experience with the greatest team!�Thank you so much!

Marlise Jordaan

Super friendly staff. Would def recommend using this place