Soar Through Underwater Realms. Capture Untold Sights.

Published by Ammonite Press • April 2016 • RRP £19.99 (Pre-Order here)

Take a voyage into the deep blue seas with this astonishing new book by one of the world’s leading underwater photographers, Alex Mustard. There is a fascinating alien world just waiting to be photographed and Underwater Photography Masterclass can teach you how to capture the amazing creatures and landscapes that lie beneath the surface.

From information about diving equipment and cameras, to crucial advice on understanding and controlling light underwater, this book provides all the background you need before you take the plunge. Alex explains with humour and in straightforward language all of the technical aspects of shooting underwater. Topics covered include wide-angle and macro lighting techniques for subjects as diverse as sea slugs, sharks and shipwrecks. But he also advises readers on how to dive for your images – time is always limited underwater and stunning pictures come when you prepare and maintain equipment properly and know what is the perfect photographic technique for different subjects.

This isn’t just a guide either, as it is packed with stunning photographs from around the world; from shoals of fish in the Egyptian sea and gangs of spider-crabs in the UK to sunken wrecks in Grand Cayman and macro shots of pygmy sea-horses in Bali and Bigfin Reef Squid in West Papua.

Alex Mustard aims to expand your horizons of what underwater photography can be and fill you with ideas for the new types of images that you can produce. Underwater Photography Masterclass will help you create the underwater images you’ve dreamed of and make you a better, more knowledgeable photographer at the same time.

• Stunning underwater images from a world renowned underwater photographer
• Information on the equipment and skills you’ll need before you start
• In-depth explanations to help you master lighting underwater

Here is  a trailer for ‘Underwater Photography Masterclass’:

And here are some photos from the book with descriptions from Alex:

Stingrays At Dawn: A split level image of two southern stingrays (Dasyatis americana) swimming over a sand bar in the early morning. The female (left) is much larger than the male (right), although the perspective of the photo accentuates the difference. Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. British West Indies. Caribbean Sea. Alex Mustard: “You need to get up pretty early to be out in the middle of the sea in time for sunrise. But the rewards are surely worth it. I placed my camera half in and half out of the water, and positioned my flashes down beneath the surface to illuminate this pair of stingrays against the coming dawn.”

Nudibranch Portrait: A high magnification photo of a nudibranch (Nembrotha kubaryana), showing orange mouth parts and sensory rhinophores, and green gills (out of focus). Bitung, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. Lembeh Strait, Molucca Sea. Alex Mustard: “Photographing nudibranchs or sealsugs is all about colour. But since they have only very rudimentary eyes, they do not get to enjoy these colours themselves. Although they certainly benefit from them because they warn potential predators of their toxicity. This species has fluorescent pigments in their orange, making them glow underwater. I photographed this tiny individual at very high magnification to fill the frame with colour. This photo was awarded in the Wildlife Photographer of the Year competition.”

World War II bike: A backlit photo of a British World War II BSA M20 motorbike inside Hold 2 of the wreck of the Thistlegorm, with Red Sea soldierfish (crimson soldierfish: Myripristis murdjan).. Sha’ab Ali, Red Sea. Sinai, Egypt. Alex Mustard: “The British military transport ship SS Thistlegorm is a remarkable underwater museum, her holds packed with a range of British military vehicles, which have remained underwater for 75 years since she was sunk by German bomber during the Second World War. Here I placed two flashguns behind the motorbike to reveal its outline against the darkness of the ship’s internals.”

Pre-Order Underwater Photography by Alex Mustard here.

About the author

Dr Alex Mustard is one of the world’s leading underwater photographers and has been a pioneering voice in this field for the past 10 years. He has pioneered many techniques within underwater photography, which he shares through magazine articles, talks and workshops. His photographs have won many awards including, on six occasions, the BBC Wildlife Photographer of the Year. In 2013, Alex was named GDT European Wildlife Photographer of the Year for his image Night Moves. His last book, Reefs Revealed, won the International Grand Prize for the best book of underwater photographs. He is the inventor of the Magic Filters, filters designed specifically for available light underwater photography with digital cameras. He also runs highly popular underwater photography workshops at top diving destinations around the world. Previously, he worked as a marine biologist at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre in Southampton.

You can visit Alex’s website here.