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 June 16Jun 16 by Tom Kline

On 6/16/2025 at 5:15 AM, Maria Munn said:

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

Maria,

Thanks for the response and feedback! Yeah, the boundary between the springs and the Santa Fe River at Ginnie is always incredible to see. While I'm largely looking to shoot in the river side of that boundary, your advice is still great, and I've really enjoyed looking at the photographers you've linked as well. Thanks again!

On 6/16/2025 at 5:55 PM, Tom Kline said:

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.

Tom,

Thank you as well for the response. Yes, you're correct about the water here- I'm largely focused on GA and FL, and the water varies between very strong tea and coffee.

Your portrait here is actually quite similar to what I'm hoping to capture, albeit with gar and bowfin as opposed to salmon. Good to know that you are able to make that significant of a difference just by resetting the WB in Lightroom. For this photo, were you using any external lighting, and if so, what?

P.S.- After seeing your response, I looked at some of your work on your website- very impressive!

Hi Reefy

Thank you! I most likely used a single flash mounted at 12 o'clock above the housing. This technique shot is from the same year: https://www.salmonography.com/Salmonid-Topic/Photography-techniques/i-SCFhVQk/A