Most of us have either enjoyed liveaboard cruises in the past or long to journey to romantic places aboard a luxurious, all-inclusive vessel designed with divers in mind. There’s another reason to consider a liveaboard cruise if you haven’t already, and that is that liveaboards are the ideal platform for underwater photography. If you’re ready to take underwater photography further, you’ll appreciate these ten reasons liveaboards offer outstanding opportunities to take your best shots ever.
Exciting Environments
Liveaboards travel to exotic places where standard travel companies don’t normally go. When you decide to enjoy a liveaboard holiday, you’ll have the opportunity to visit pristine environments teeming with marine life, and with the help of guides onboard, you will be able to visit the dive sites that offer the best opportunities for capturing the images you dream of. Not only will you visit exciting destinations, you will be able to stay longer, take multiple dives, and really get to know your subjects.
Sufficient Time at the Best Dive Sites
Liveaboard cruises designed with the needs of underwater photographers in mind strive to facilitate extended time at sites where exciting underwater photo opportunities exist. You don’t have to return to a resort for meals or surface intervals, instead, you simply return to your boat, wait until time to dive again, and then return to the site you were visiting. You’ll have the opportunity to photograph many species or focus on just a few that fascinate you most. If all the photographers on your cruise are equally interested in what a certain site or series of sites have to offer, the amount of time you’ll have to focus on what interests you most will almost certainly increase.
Plenty of Prep Time
If you’ve ever felt rushed to prepare for a photo dive and you hated everything about it, you’ll be happy to know that the exact opposite is true when you dive with a liveaboard. You’ll have several hours each day during which to charge batteries, assemble trays, arms, and connectors, and think about how to approach various species or capture sites from different angles. As long as your equipment is working and you are ready to dive, you will have no shortage of opportunities to get those perfect shots you’ve been dreaming of.
Photo Guide on Board
When you visit topside destinations such as museums and cultural heritage sites, there’s typically no shortage of docents and guides to help you learn what you need to know. When diving with a liveaboard designed with photographers in mind, you’ll have access to a photo guide – someone who knows what species and features you’re likely to encounter at certain dive sites. This is a luxury you won’t normally benefit from on standard dives, when you’re normally left to figure things out on your own. As an added bonus, photo guides employed by liveaboards are typically well-versed in camera repair, with plenty of knowledge about the most popular cameras and underwater photography equipment.
Pre-Dive Briefings
Liveaboards for underwater photographers provide pre-dive briefings designed to orient you toward capturing those perfect pictures you long to share with friends and fans. Even sites that might seem dubious to you at first have something to offer – after all, the cruise would skip them if this weren’t true!
Equipment Changes
On most boat dives, you can’t drop down to a site, decide you need a different lens, and pop back up to the dive boat to take care of business. With a liveaboard, you’ve got access to all the equipment you brought with you, and if you decide you need a different type of equipment for a certain situation, you will be able to revisit the site with more desirable items at a later time.
Networking Opportunities
One of the best things about liveaboards for underwater photographers is that you’ll have plenty of opportunities to meet and interact with others who share your passion for underwater photography. Throughout the course of the cruise, you’ll be able to share tips and stories with one another, which helps everyone sharpen their own photography skills. Both pre and post dive conversations will help you become a better underwater photographer, and if you’ve made mistakes, you’ll have no shortage of professionals on hand to help you understand how to rectify them so you’ll capture better images next time you dive under the same conditions. Don’t be surprised if you make lasting connections with others who share your enjoyment of the underwater world; the social aspect is one of the nicest things about this type of adventure.
Assistance When Needed
On many dives you’ve taken, you may have had to struggle with gear yourself or rely on someone who might not be completely confident or competent to help you with it. When you decide to travel with a liveaboard designed for underwater photographers, you’ll have help when you need it. The crew members are typically well versed in aiding divers with their equipment, holding cameras, and handing items to you safely once you’ve dropped into the water.
Entertaining Slide Shows
As people began capturing and processing images, they’re eager to share what they’ve seen and documented. On a liveaboard cruise filled with photographers, you’ll have the opportunity not just to see footage others have taken, but to see slide shows of images captured by the photo guides onboard. These shows will help you create strategies for making the most of the time you have to spend at the dive sites you visit.
Sharing Equipment
Once people get to know and trust one another on a liveaboard designed for underwater photographers, the unthinkable sometimes happens – people start swapping equipment with one another, entrusting valuable cameras, lenses, and other items to their newfound friends, providing backup lenses, and offering support in unexpected ways.
Liveaboards for underwater photographers are like nothing else. The friends you make and the experiences you’ll share while traveling and diving together will never be forgotten, and the images you capture along the way will be incredible reminders of what might just end up to be the experience of a lifetime.