Text: René Lipmann Photos: Jantina Scheltema

How do aperture, shutter speed and ISO affect your underwater photo? Which part should you adjust to get the right exposure? Help! How do you control the light? 

Jantina Scheltema will tell you all about this during her presentation at Duikvaker about underwater photography!

You are a professional photographer, what photography can I book you for?

You can contact me for wedding reports, family photos and reports on location. Very versatile, always spontaneous and in a relaxed way. In addition, I give photo courses, both above water and under water. 

When did the love for water arise?  

I have never been a fanatic water sports enthusiast, although I did enjoy going with friends to take pictures while they were surfing. Of course I enjoy the view of water, and our holidays are always in places where there are both mountains and sea.
My love for diving only started when we decided to go to Australia. Because yes, when you travel to Australia, you want to see the Great Barrier Reef! I especially wanted to see the fish and experience with my own eyes what that famous reef looked like. If you had told me then that I would now be doing technical diving, I would never have believed you.

Jantina Scheltema, guest speaker Duikvaker 1 and 2 February 2025. Stage 2, 1:00 PM, Underwater photography, how do you keep the light under control?

You already had your diving certificate?
Yes! We decided to get our open water certificate in the Netherlands, so that we didn't have to spend valuable vacation days on a diving course there. In retrospect, that turned out to be a golden move, because I quickly started having ear problems and therefore needed some extra time to get my certificate. Diving in cold water with little visibility was also more challenging, which made it much easier for us in warm water with good visibility. In the beginning, I found 7 to 8 meters deep more than enough and I quickly became nervous if I had to go deeper than 10 meters. I only wanted to see colorful fish and had no interest in more complicated dives.

Did you take your camera underwater right away?
The camera quickly went underwater, first a GoPro on a tray with two video lights. Because I couldn't dive that well at the time, it wasn't an immediate success. As soon as I wanted to take a picture, I lost my buoyancy. Because I really wanted to take beautiful pictures, I paid a lot of attention to my buoyancy and trim. Very precise maneuvering and swimming backwards. All that training has had a huge effect on my photography, even though it has nothing to do with photography itself.

With your experience above water you certainly made a flying start? All photos always well lit and sharp?
I was already a photographer, but not yet a diver. I could take pictures, but I still had to learn how to dive. And that was quite frustrating. Because I did not have my buoyancy and trim under control, I could not take the pictures I had in mind. I was mainly busy with the diving itself, which meant that I could not concentrate enough on the photography.

Once I got control underwater, diving and taking pictures became a lot more fun! I didn’t make dust clouds anymore and didn’t have to worry about swimming into something and damaging it. Once I could hang still, I could also determine my compositions much more accurately. That’s how I discovered that for good pictures you don’t just need photography skills, you also need diving skills!

You provide an underwater photography course. What are the challenges that starting photographers in particular face?

To take good photos, it’s important to understand exactly how your camera works. How do aperture, shutter speed, and ISO affect your photo? Which part should you adjust to get the right exposure? Even if you’re diving with an automatic camera like the Olympus TG6, it’s useful to understand exactly what your camera does. That way, you’ll know how to fix a photo that’s too dark or blurry. Another challenging aspect of underwater photography is external lighting, like using a flash or video light. Everyone learns during open water training that colors diminish as you dive deeper, but less is known about how light behaves further underwater.

What will you learn during this course? 
In this course you will learn how to set your camera manually. You will discover the effect of adjusting aperture or shutter speed and what happens when you change the ISO. By getting to know your camera well, you will have to think less about what to adjust underwater for the right exposure. Once you can separate these three key elements of photography and understand how they work together with light, your photography will really change. You will also gain more insight into adding (external) light.

Where do you like to dive?

We love to travel and have dived at many great dive sites. Since we completed our cave diving training, we have added many new favorites. For example, during our last vacation in Norway, we dived on a wreck from World War II, in tidal currents and in the caves of Plura. In Sweden we dived in a flooded mine. The cold water is what attracts us; it is so surprising! While you look out over a dark fjord above water, you dive underwater along a colorful wall full of anemones and dead man's fingers. The rock formations and the light in the corridors of the cave in Plura and the mine in Sweden are also amazing. They are beautiful, surprising and challenging photo locations!

Brrrr. Cold water?! And in a mine too. No claustrophobia? Then you leave your camera in the hotel room?

No, neither! The camera is coming along. That is precisely my goal: to take beautiful pictures during those cold, challenging dives. Together with my buddy, I make sure that we place the lights well to show how beautiful it is underwater. In challenging diving situations, it is interesting to make a good dive plan and get the most out of our time underwater. When we did our cave diving training, I asked our instructor about this: how do I dive as safely as possible in overhead situations with a camera? How do I keep my focus on safety?

With such a dive you have to pay attention to all safety aspects, because the cold water also affects your alertness. You have to stay focused on the dive, your buddy, your air supply and the way back to the surface. Then there is the photography, and when you start to think slower because of the cold, that is not a good combination. Fortunately, after the dive we can warm up nicely in our self-converted camper. Where the chocolate milk is so warm and we sit comfortably in front of the heater.

What a self-built camper? Are you that handy with a saw and hammer?
We are especially handy together; we are really a team. Making plans together and thinking about how we want it. I can hold a saw and hammer, but my partner and buddy has to tell me what to do with it, because I am not that handy, haha!

Because we got so many questions about our camper at campsites and dive sites, I wrote a book about it. I wish everyone had such a camper, it's great to always have your own little house with you. The diving gear is always in the back, and we can always charge the diving lights and camper equipment. The only thing we sometimes miss is a mobile compressor. Then we could really dive anytime and anywhere!

Do you also come outside Europe to dive?
Absolutely! After learning to dive, we visited Australia, New Zealand, Gozo, Iceland, Bonaire, Mexico and the Philippines. We love to travel with our camper, but some destinations are just easier to reach by plane.

You've dived with a thresher shark! How was that? Any nice pictures?
On the island of Malapascua in the Philippines you can dive with thresher sharks. You have to get up early for this, because at sunrise they come up from the depths. You first sail across the sea in the dark, and as the sun rises, you get ready to go into the water. That moment alone is a beautiful experience!

During my time at Malapascua I unfortunately had some bad luck with the visibility, so the pictures are nothing to write home about. But the feeling I had when I saw those mighty animals with their elegant tails coming out of the grey depths is unforgettable. A dream dive indeed!

Where would you like to fly to dive today?
If I could get on a plane NOW I would fly to Bonaire. I have been there twice and know some super nice people there who I would love to see again to dive with and enjoy the island life. 
It is truly a diving paradise with all the different diving locations where you can relatively easily walk in from the shore and a varied underwater life. 
The choice would be difficult, because I would also really like to go to Mexico again to explore the caves there. However, the chance is greatest that we drive towards cold water again, instead of flying to the warmth. There is also so much beauty and interest to see under water! 

You are one of the guest speakers at Duikvaker. What can I expect as a visitor on February 1 and 2?

How do you control light? How do you combine aperture, shutter speed and ISO to create a perfectly exposed photo? I will explain as much as possible about aperture, shutter speed and iso in a short time. How you can combine these things to get as much control as possible over your exposure. The exposure of your subject, but also the exposure of the background in your photo. This way you can determine for yourself whether the water in the background of your photo is blue or black.