How to Photograph Sunbeams

It is absolutely astounding what water can do to light. It fragments it, splitting light streams into areas of concentrated light and dark spots. It's mesmerizing just to watch them dance. And in California we have the added bonus of kelp to further fragment and split the sun's gift. Kelp filters and shimmers the light into beams of sharp contrast and muted colors of amber and green. Another added bonus for California divers is the sometimes less than clear waters are better for producing good sunbeam effects.

Sunbeams are excellent as a background, but that's not all they're good for. For the creative photographer, sunbeams can also be used as foreground or even as the primary subject material.

As beautiful as underwater sunbeams can be, they can be difficult to capture on film. They can create stark contrasts that are easy to under or over expose.

EXPOSURE

The most challenging factor in using sunbeams in your photos is exposure. The most common error is to over expose the beams, washing out any possible detail. You will want to darken the background somewhat to bring out the subtleties of the beam. Make your blue water background a dark blue, your amber kelp a darker green. Usually one stop will do it.

KELP SUNBEAMS

Exposure for this kind of shot is even more difficult. To not blow out the sunbeams you will tend to make the kelp go near black. Here's the trick: Find a place where the kelp is not as thick. Find a place where the sun is penetrating the kelp fronds, not enough to overwhelm the sunbeams but just enough to show detail to the plant.

SILHOUETTES

Perhaps the easiest and one of the most effective uses of sunbeams is through a strong silhouette shot. With this kind of photo, the sun is placed directly behind the main subject. Give the sun places to peek past the main subject. It is here that sunbeams are created. Again, exposure is critical. Meter on the sun streaming through the water above before your main subject moves in front of it. This is a good start point for exposure, but also bracket your exposures, opening the aperture a half stop each shot, if possible. Use of a strobe in a silhouette shot is optional, depending on the effect desired, but it usually detracts from the stark effect of the shot.

SUNBEAMS TO FRAME A SHOT

A more creative use of sunbeams is their use in framing a shot. They can be used to draw attention to the main subject material, create lines of force within a photo, or simply give the picture depth. Drawing attention to a subject would be the sunbeams streaming from the surface to a subject usually near the bottom. Sunbeams originating from an upper corner of the shot can accentuate motion or tension in a shot, depending on the position and action of the main subject. A difficult shot to pull off is one in which some sunbeams fall behind the subject and others in front. The effect of depth can be quite dramatic.

MACRO SUNBEAMS

Yes, you can use sunbeams as an effective backdrop for your close up marine life shots. As with the silhouette shot, first adjust your exposure for the sun above and then place the main subject in front of the sun breaking through the surface above. Strobes are then adjusted to provide the proper exposure to the main subject. This positioning, needless to say, requires a cooperative main subject. It is very difficult, although not impossible, with fish. Better subjects would be animals you can pose with your hands such as a small sea star or nudibranch on a kelp branch.

SUNBEAMS FOR SUNBEAM'S SAKE

Just for fun, on your next dive, take just pictures of sunbeams. Play with exposures. Study the light as it dances on a sand bottom or shimmers through a kelp canopy. You'll be surprised just how much fun you can have and how much you can learn. And you may even get a great shot or two.