Education by osmosis: Spend a week on a boat full of photographers and you're bound to learn some new tricks. Photos by Stephen Frink

Your Best Shot: A Photo Live-Aboard Has What You Need

1. Ample set-up time and space.
During the several-hour steam to the first dive site, photographers have time to unpack, put batteries on charge, make necessary repairs and assemble arms, trays and connectors. Between the camera table on the dive deck and the on-board photo center, there are usually plenty of safe, dry places to stow photo gear.

2. Skilled photo pro.
Most live-aboards that cater to underwater photographers have a resident photo pro on staff. They understand photography and can give valuable advice. Most onboard photo pros can also field repair a flooded Nikonos, diagnose basic mechanical and electrical malfunctions, and offer intro-level photo courses.

On a live-aboard, more diving means more photo-ops and more chances to capture that perfect image.

3. Photo-savvy crew.
Their help is especially important aboard chase boats and around rinse tanks. The best crew know how to hold camera trays so arms don't disconnect, thereby dropping fragile ports on the deck and scarring them beyond use. They know how to safely hand cameras to photographers once they are in the water, and they know where to store the cameras on the chase boat so they ride safely. They also know how to put cameras in a rinse tank so one person's camera doesn't scratch another's dome.

4. Access to the best dive spots.
This is the significant advantage of live-aboards in general, but is especially important to underwater photographers, who need the best environments and most photogenic marine life in order to capture the best possible images. Often the live-aboard photo tour provides marine wilderness experiences far beyond the range of any day boat.

5. Photographer-oriented dive briefings and site selection.
I once ended up on a dive boat in the Channel Islands where I was the only photographer and everyone else was lobstering. Not surprisingly, we went to barren rocks in dirty water and I took no photos that day. On a live-aboard that caters to underwater photographers, the sites chosen will be based on photographic merit, and the pre-dive briefings will help photographers find the most unusual or beautiful attractions.

6. Slide shows.
Usually done by the resident photo pro, these shows are informational as well as inspirational. These pros usually have years of experience at a destination, and have been able to shoot the best subjects under the best conditions. A slide show provides ideas about possible subjects that might be found later in the week.

7. Extended time on a specific site.
If it's going particularly well at a given site, your boat doesn't have to be back at the resort by Happy Hour. If the seas go slick calm with 200-foot visibility, the group may opt to stay on location and concentrate on wide-angle. If the cuttlefish are mating on the shallow reef, the group may prefer to do a couple of dives on the site to record the phenomenon. Of course, it helps that all on board share the same special interest. An extraordinarily productive muck dive may deserve repeated dives, not just the brief visit allowed by day boats.

8. Ability to change film and lenses.
Sometimes photographers choose the wrong lens for the most photogenic subjects on the reef. I've gone down on a rubble reef armed with a wide-angle when the shrimp gobies are boldly posing for anyone shooting 105mm macro rigs. It's nice to be able to go back on the boat to grab a different camera system better suited for the subjects. Additionally, when the subjects are just perfect and conditions ideal, one roll of film may simply not be enough.

9. E-6 film processing.
While it may not be necessary to process every roll, onboard E-6 film processing permits photographers to evaluate the exposures and diagnose any possible camera malfunctions at the beginning of the week. It is certainly better to be aware that a TTL strobe cord has gone bad on the first day of a charter than to return home with 40 rolls of overexposed film.

One of the greatest advantages for photographers diving from a live-aboard is access to the most photogenic sites, which are often unreachable by day boats.

10. Interactivity with other photographers.
Call it "education by osmosis." The photo pros and the guests all share the same passion for underwater photography, and naturally the post-dive conversations often involve gear and film preferences, techniques, what was seen on the reef and how it was photographed. There will also be talk of dive destinations best suited to underwater photography, helpful indeed when planning your next photo tour.

11. Gear exchange and back-ups.
I've always been proud of the way our guests share equipment with other photographers on board. Among a dozen or more photographers, something is bound to break or flood before the week is out. If one person's strobe goes down, there is usually someone else with a spare they're willing to lend. After all, photographers know all too well it could be theirs that breaks the next time, leaving them on the receiving end of a gear loan.

12. Shared photo-ops.
If there's one inviolate rule among photographers it's this: once a photographer has chosen a photo opportunity, it is theirs until voluntarily abandoned. To intrude into another photographer's set-up is exceedingly bad form. And when finished, the courteous photographer will go out of his way to attract the attention of another shooter who might be in the vicinity, just to point out the discovery. Generosity in this regard is usually repaid, if not with reciprocal photo-ops, then at least with good karma.