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Check out these helpful tips from the Sport Diver staff and contributors to improve your photos of one of nature's most powerful — and beautiful — predators.
1. Stay a bit apart from the other divers and tucked behind a nearby reef or rocks (if available) during feedings. From there, shoot the sharks as they move toward and away from the bait to capture sharks exhibiting more "natural" behavior. And if you can include some of the reef or rocks in the photo, the effect is enhanced all the more. –Tanya Burnett-Palmer, Sport Diver contributor
2. Be careful not to overexpose the white underside of sharks that have white bellies! It's pretty easy to get blown-out whites if you're not careful. Keep your strobes/arms higher than usual and feather/angle your strobes up a bit. –Justin Lewis, Sport Diver contributor
3. Position yourself in the right place and let the sharks come to you. You cannot out-swim a shark! –Eric Cheng, Sport Diver contributor; publisher and editor of Wetpixel.com
4. Don't chase the sharks. Staying still works best. Or, if the sharks are napping, take your time to approach them. Also, shoot slightly up. It adds a sense of urgency to the images and separates the sharks from the background. –Ty Sawyer, Former Sport Diver Editor
5. Communicate ahead of time with the feeder when shooting during an organized feed to get the best position for the action without too much of the debris coming at you. Current is generally rare for a feed, but if there is some, try to be slightly up current from the food source, so yourt image isn't filled with a bunch of chum. –Tanya Burnett-Palmer, Sport Diver contributor
6. Choose a good dive buddy. While your face is glued to the camera capturing all the action, you want someone who will act as a good look out. No fast or erratic movements. You don't want to attract any additional attention to yourself. If one happens to take a special interest in your camera, it's OK to give it a small nudge to steer it in another direction. –Michelle Makmann, Sport Diver multimedia producer
