Underwater Reference Photos, Shot by Divers

One reef, four kinds of light

On land you would choose between sun, cloud and dusk. Under water the same choices exist, and they change everything. AustraliaRef photographed the Great Barrier Reef in four different conditions, all on a GoPro 7 at 3648 × 2736. That makes these packs a rare side-by-side study:

• Coral Reef Overcast: 321 photos on an overcast day, with no caustics or direct sunlight. The best view of the true shapes of the coral.
• Island Coral Reef Strong Caustics: 311 photos taken while snorkeling at shallow depth, with strong sun caustics over the coral.
• Coral Reef Sunset: 202 photos from afternoon dives, with warm, low, sunset-like light.
• Great Barrier Coral Reef Clear Water: 564 photos from a rare clear day, with hardly any particles in the water.

Natural light or dive lights

Water absorbs red light first, so deeper scenes look blue and green. Divers bring lights to get the color back. Two packs by UnderwaterRef in the Philippines show the result. Both were shot with an Olympus TG-6, a fisheye dome, two 6500-lumen lights and a red filter:

• Overlit Coral: 260 photos of coral lit by strong lights, which bring back colors that are normally lost at depth.
• Hard Coral Bushes: 180 photos of a shallow shoreline covered in hard coral.

If you paint underwater scenes, this choice matters. Natural light gives you blue haze and soft shapes. Artificial light gives you bright, saturated color close to the camera and fast falloff into darkness behind it.

Wrecks: steel turning into reef

Shipwrecks show what decades under water do to metal: rust, collapse and a thick cover of coral and marine life.

• 100m Long Underwater Ship Wreck: 470 photos of a large cargo ship sunk in the 1940s in Indonesia. Only the metal-reinforced cargo bay still stands. The diver swam two laps around the wreck on different routes.
• Murky Coral Overgrown Japanese Cargo Shipwreck: 323 photos of a freight ship sunk in shallow water in the Philippines during World War II, now a reef full of life.
• Ship Graveyard: 254 photos of ships sunk in Queensland in the 1960s to make a safe bay for boats: 104 drone photos from above and 150 underwater photos.
• Deep Water Boat Wreck: 119 photos of a cargo boat sunk for divers in Bali, taken through the cargo bay and decks at 24–32 meters.

Beyond the reef

Not every underwater scene is tropical. Underwater Ghost Reeds has 371 photos of reeds in a freshwater lake, a good base for dark, quiet scenes. Sardines Fish Clouds shows 220 photos of a school of sardines so dense it can block the sun. For more reef detail, see our coral reef reference photos.

Frequently asked questions

Are underwater photos as sharp as photos taken on land?

Not always, and we would rather tell you before you buy. Underwater photography uses small cameras, and murky water scatters light. Some wreck pack descriptions say clearly that many photos are soft or blurry. They are still useful for shapes, light and atmosphere. For crisp coral detail, choose the Clear Water or Overcast packs.

Which pack shows caustics best?

Island Coral Reef Strong Caustics, shot in shallow water under strong sun. For light rays from the surface, add the Underwater Godrays pack (66 photos), which works well as an overlay.

Can I use these photos for a game level or an animated film?

Yes. Every license is royalty-free, covers unlimited projects and never expires. You can also build your own 3D models and textures from the photos for your projects.

Are these taken in aquariums?

The packs on this page were shot in the open sea or in a lake. The product page gives the location for each pack.