Hello all,

I'm curious if anyone has any experience shooting photos (or videos) in heavily tannic water. I want to start a project aimed at documenting some of the fish native to tannic swamps and rivers of the US Southeast, and was wondering if anyone had any prior experience with this sort of environment. If so, what settings, lighting, filters, etc. worked best for you? Most of my experience with underwater photo/video has been in clear, tropical waters, so any and all insight on how to find success in this more unconventional setting would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advanced!

Hi @Reefy

I have been to Ginnie Springs in Florida and experienced tannic water conditions there if that helps you.

I wasn't expecting to see it at all, it really is phenomenal to photograph. I was using a Sealife SportDiver Housing for my iPhone 13 Pro Max at the time. I didn't use any filters, and was using natural light. I used a wide open aperture and used my EV Minus setting (or a faster shutter speed if using manual) to capture the reflection at the surface.

If you are diving deeper, then lights will really help to add more dramatic colour to the overall scene for sure and create beautiful silhouettes.

Check out Dive Wells Photography on Facebook who has captured incredible images at Tulum in Mexico. He used 2 x 30,000 Big Blue Lights

Martin Broen is another incredible underwater photographer who has captured this phenomenon. He has also used Big Blue Lights.

Hope this helps, I'm attaching what I achieved which I hope helps.

Good luck with the journey and look forward to hearing how you get on.

Maria

I shoot quite a bit in tannic water. It ranges from iced tea to Coca-Cola. I understand northern FLA is more like coffee (from a Skin Diver article about fossil hunting UW from many years ago). One of the more challenging streams in my area was the location for the attached shots. I made a virtual copy of the OK version in LR and reset the WB to daylight (5500 °K), nothing else, before making the second jpeg. Shot taken with a Nikon D2X and 10.5mm fisheye so fairly old. I have not been back to this stream, which is unnamed, since. It is hard to get to as well as rather stained.

Edited Monday at 09:58 PM2 days by Tom Kline