StretchLearn Course

Bring Back the Colour the Ocean Takes Away

Housing systems, strobe placement, white balance, buoyancy control, and dive-safe technique that turn blue, flat frames into vivid underwater images.

Preview Curriculum Back to Catalog

Beginner9 hr 30 minSelf PacedRegistered

Course Overview

What this course is designed to develop

This course takes a beginner from dry-land shooter to confident underwater photographer. You will set up and care for a housing system, restore the colour that water strips away using strobes and white balance, hold a stable shooting position with buoyancy control, and edit blue, flat files into vivid, true-to-life images. Every module uses concrete numbers, named gear, real dive-safety limits, and worked examples from a snorkel reef to a 20-metre wreck.

Learning Outcomes

What the learner should be able to understand, build, or execute.

Select and assemble a housing, port, and strobe system for your camera and budget

Restore lost colour underwater using strobes, white balance, and shooting depth

Position one or two strobes to light a subject without backscatter

Control buoyancy and trim to shoot stable, sharp frames without touching the reef

Apply dive-safe limits, gas planning, and a no-shot-is-worth-it safety mindset

Edit flat, blue underwater RAW files into sharp, colour-accurate photographs

Curriculum Preview

Inside the curriculum: a structured path from fundamentals to execution.

Preview the course structure, see how the modules build on one another, and understand the path this program is designed to take you through.

Module 1

Module 1: Housings, Ports, and the Underwater Rig

Build and care for the waterproof system that keeps your camera alive and shooting at depth. A single missed o-ring can flood a camera, so this foundation underpins every dive that follows.

3 lessons

Choosing a Housing and Camera SystemContent · 45 min

Preview Enabled

Ports, Lenses, and Wet OpticsContent · 50 min

LMS Access

O-Rings, Assembly, and Flood PreventionContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 2

Module 2: Light, Colour, and Strobes Underwater

Understand how water steals colour and use strobes and white balance to put it back. This is what separates a vivid underwater image from a flat blue one.

3 lessons

How Water Absorbs Colour and LightContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Strobes, Settings, and BackscatterContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Strobe Placement and White BalanceContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Module 3

Module 3: Buoyancy, Dive Skills, and Safety

Become a safe, controlled diver who can hold a stable shooting position without harming the reef or themselves. The camera always comes second to the dive.

3 lessons

Buoyancy Control and Trim for ShootingContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Dive Safety, Gas, and LimitsContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Marine Life Etiquette and Reef ConservationContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Module 4

Module 4: Composition, Workflow, and Editing

Compose underwater frames that work with the light, then edit blue, flat RAW files into sharp, colour-accurate images. This is what turns a dive's worth of frames into a portfolio.

3 lessons

Composition and Shooting Up Toward the LightContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Topside Care, Backup, and CullingContent · 45 min

LMS Access

Editing Underwater Images and Building a PortfolioContent · 50 min

LMS Access

Built for Application

A complete learning path, not a one-off inspiration hit.

This program is designed around progression: focused lessons, structured modules, applied resources, assessments, and a course rhythm that turns information into usable capability.

underwater photographyscuba divingunderwater housingunderwater strobeswhite balancebuoyancy controlbackscatterdive safety