How to Film Underwater: 7 Tips for Beginner Filmmakers
Filming underwater can produce incredible results, but it’s not as simple as getting in the water and pressing record. Water bends light, strips out colour, and it can be hard to achieve a stable shot. So here are seven practical tips I learned making One Breath: A Life Without Gravity, along with the gear and prep that will help you capture footage that actually feels like being in the ocean.
The footage from your underwater filming adventures can seem flat, murky, and wobbly compared to what your eyes saw in the water. Translating the mysterious, three-dimensional world of the oceans into a two-dimensional visual story isn't as easy as one might think.
When I first started filming underwater, I made every mistake in the book. But through trial and error, and by learning from world-renowned freedivers and underwater filmmakers Eusebio and Christina Sáenz de Santamaría. while working together on our short film One Breath. I found what actually works.
Below you will find everything I wish someone had told me before I got in the water.
What This Post Covers
- Learning Underwater Filmmaking
- 7 Underwater Filming Techniques for Beginners
- Best Underwater Cameras for Filmmaking (All Budgets)
- Underwater Camera Prep: Is Your Gear Watertight?
- Creative Underwater Filming Techniques to Try
- FAQ: Common Underwater Filming Questions
Learning Underwater Filmmaking
Through making my short film One Breath, I learned about the challenges of filming underwater and discovered how to overcome some of these challenges. You can watch the film here:
7 Underwater Filming Techniques for Beginners
Drawing from my own experiences and learning from world-renowned freedivers and underwater filmmakers, Eusebio and Christina Sáenz de Santamaría, I'm going to share seven tips that will help your underwater cinematography go to new depths.
1. Plan Your Shots on the Surface Before You Dive
Underwater, everything works against you: limited air, cold water, strong currents, and the inability to easily communicate with your subject. The best way to deal with this is to plan every shot before you get in the water.
Before each dive, brief your subject or dive buddy on the shots you want to capture. Agree on hand signals, rehearse the movement or action you need on camera, and decide on your shooting positions. Know exactly what focal length, frame rate, and exposure settings you’ll use before you submerge. The more decisions you make on the surface, the less time you waste underwater, and the better your footage will be.
2. Get Close and Shoot Wide
In the underwater world, the general rule is to get as close as possible to your subject while keeping the widest view. Getting close reduces the amount of water between your lens and the subject. Water distorts light and reduces clarity, so the less water you shoot through, the sharper your image.
This matters most when visibility is limited by particles in the water or by the water's own colour.
A fish-eye or 16-35mm lens works well here. These lenses can give you up to 180 degrees of coverage, letting you capture a wide area in a single shot. They also create a curved, immersive look that pulls the viewer into the scene.
That said, going wide isn't always the right call. Sometimes a tighter frame works better, especially when you want to highlight a specific subject or detail. Read the situation and choose the framing that serves the story.
3. Keep Your Shots Stable Without a Tripod
Traditional tripods don’t work underwater, especially with bulky housings. Instead, use soft dive weights on a weight belt to anchor your camera. The weights counteract buoyancy and help you smoothly adjust position for steady shots.
Your own body is also a powerful stabiliser, but only if your buoyancy is dialled in first. Buoyancy control comes down to your breath: inhale and you rise, exhale and you sink. By mastering these micro-adjustments, you turn yourself into a steady platform that can hold a shot without drifting. This takes practice, but it’s the single most important skill for any underwater filmmaker. If you can’t hover in one spot, you can’t hold a steady frame.
4. Use Manual Focus with a High F-Stop
When filming underwater, turn off auto-focus and switch to manual. Auto-focus works by finding "edges" to lock onto, which gets confused underwater where edges are soft and constantly moving.
A good trick: focus on something about 6 feet away. That sweet spot keeps both close-up and far-away subjects reasonably sharp. Once you have that set, you can tweak the manual focus to get your shot right. For more on focus techniques, read my guide on how to keep your subject in focus as a solo filmmaker.
5. Adjust White Balance as You Go Deeper
As you go deeper underwater, the water absorbs different wavelengths of light. Reds disappear first, then oranges, leaving everything looking blue-green. To fix this, set a custom white balance at your shooting depth. This gives the camera a baseline for white, and it adjusts all other colours from there.
The result: you get your reds and warm tones back, and your footage looks natural instead of washed out. For a full breakdown of camera settings including white balance, read my cinematic camera settings checklist.
6. Experiment with Light Angles
Traditional underwater filming keeps the light source behind you for clear, well-lit footage. But experimenting with different angles, like backlighting, can create striking results. Backlighting outlines your subject with a soft glow, adding depth and drama.
Filming during the golden hours of early morning or late afternoon also helps. The low, soft light highlights subtle details and creates a real sense of depth. If you want to go deeper on lighting principles, check out my post on cinematic lighting for beginner filmmakers.
7. Respect the Ocean: Ethical Underwater Filmmaking
When filming underwater, protect the environment around you. Avoid stirring up silt and sediment from the bottom, as it clouds the water and ruins your shots. Move slowly and deliberately. Don't chase fish or other marine life, as it scares them and makes for poor footage anyway.
Good underwater filmmakers leave no trace. The ocean is the subject, and it deserves your respect.
Best Underwater Cameras for Filmmaking (All Budgets)
Choosing the right camera depends on your budget and what you need. Here are three solid options across different price ranges:
Professional: The RED Komodo 6K delivers outstanding image quality and dynamic range. It's the top choice for cinematic underwater shoots, but requires a dedicated underwater housing.
Mid-range: The Panasonic GH5 II is popular among underwater filmmakers for its build quality, excellent video, and the wide range of affordable underwater housing options available for it.
Budget-friendly: The GoPro Hero 10 Black remains a favourite for its compact size, 5.3K video, and built-in waterproofing. Ideal if you're starting out and don't want to invest in a separate housing. You can also film underwater with your phone using a waterproof case, though dedicated cameras give you much more control.
For a deeper look at filmmaking cameras, check out my best documentary cameras buying guide.
Underwater Camera Prep: Is Your Gear Watertight?
Protecting your camera means more than trusting a waterproof case. Before every dive, inspect every seal and o-ring. Any speck of sand or worn spot could flood your housing and destroy your gear.
Apply a thin coat of silicone grease to create a watertight barrier (don't overdo it, or it works against you). If your housing supports it, run a pre-dive vacuum test for full confidence. After every dive, rinse everything in fresh water to prevent salt damage.
These steps protect your investment and make sure you're ready to shoot without worrying about leaks.
Creative Underwater Filming Techniques to Try
Once you have the basics down, try these creative approaches to make your underwater footage stand out:
Shoot in slow motion. Filming at 60fps or higher exaggerates the fluid movements of marine life and the undulating motion of water. Slow motion adds a dreamlike quality that works beautifully underwater.
Try over-under (split) shots. Half the frame captures the underwater scene while the other half shows the surface. This perspective bridges the aquatic and terrestrial worlds, and viewers love it.
Go close-up. Macro shots reveal the intricate details of underwater ecosystems, bringing the viewer face-to-face with textures and patterns of marine life that are invisible from a distance.
Use artificial lights. Natural light fades and shifts colour as you go deeper. Adding underwater video lights (like those from Keldan or Light & Motion) restores colour and gives you more control over your image, especially on deeper dives.
If you enjoy action-heavy shooting environments, you might also like my guide on how to shoot an action sports video.
FAQ: Common Underwater Filming Questions
What do you use to film underwater?
You need a camera, a waterproof housing (or a camera with built-in waterproofing like a GoPro), and a tray/handle system for stability. Professional setups use cinema cameras like the RED Komodo or Sony FX6 inside dedicated housings from brands like Nauticam or Ikelite. Beginners can start with an action camera or a phone in a waterproof case.
Can I use my phone to film underwater?
Yes. Modern smartphones can shoot decent underwater video when sealed in a proper waterproof housing or pouch. The results won't match a dedicated underwater camera, but it's a low-cost way to start. Make sure the housing is rated for your planned depth, and test the seal in a sink before you trust it in the ocean.
How deep can you film underwater without special equipment?
Most consumer waterproof cameras and phone housings are rated to about 10-15 metres (33-50 feet). Action cameras like the GoPro can handle this range without an extra housing. For deeper dives, you need a pressure-rated housing built for your specific camera.
Do you need to know how to dive before filming underwater?
For anything beyond snorkelling depth, yes. You need solid buoyancy control before you can hold a camera steady underwater. I'd recommend getting at least an Open Water diving certification before attempting any serious underwater filming. Buoyancy is the foundation of every other tip in this post.
Start Filming Underwater
Underwater filmmaking is challenging, but with practice and these tips, you can capture footage that shows the real beauty of the ocean. Start with the gear you have, get comfortable in the water, and build from there.
Free Documentary Filmmaking Training
If you want more filmmaking tips like these, I've put together a free documentary training video where I share how I make cinematic documentaries. Click here to sign up and get instant access.
Photography by: One Ocean, One Breath
