Just did my first series of underwater photography and am looking for feedback.

I've never tried underwater photography, so take what I say with a grain of salt.

To use this photo as an example:
https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/37021968

I would edit out the small bubbles. I have seen photos where the surface created an interesting reflection of the subject, but in the case of this light, I would avoid the surface. I would avoid the rim of the pool. Those elements all seem distracting.

I would white balance more, so the colors are more normal.

The colors in this photo look much better:
https://www.modelmayhem.com/portfolio/pic/37021962

Underwater photography is something certainly worth practicing, I would love to see more your work in this genre.

I like the images where you can't tell it's in a pool the best.  Also, and this may seem silly, but they seem very blue to me.

But overall I like them.

Thank you for your input. I greatly appreciate it.

It's my first try at underwater photography and I know I will only get better with great input like from the two of you.

Thanks again

I like this one
Understand it is under water, but can you add more punch to her colored top?


This one I do not like because of where you cut hands and feet off


Also like this one too

Wish you well

Thank you Lee for your feedback. It's greatly appreciated.

Just remember that even though it's underwater, the basic principles of photography still apply. Remember lighting and framing. That's all I'll say.

And try to replicate what you see in magazines, etc.

Water absorbs the red end of the spectrum and passes the blue end, which is why your colors seem skewed. Try using a custom white balance and you should be able to get colors that are more manageable. There will still be skew, but not as pronounced.

I've done a handful of underwater shoots. They are exhausting and very hard!

I agree that the most glaring issue i see is the color balance is too cool.  It also makes the images soft in saturation and contrast.

Greta advice, thank you all for the comments

As you can see the model makes a great deal of difference. You needed to give yourself more distance between yourself and the first model so that you would not have cut off limbs. The first mododel's tattoo was distracting. Your shots of the second model, I feel, were much better. She was, no pun intended, more fluid. I did find her patterned suit distracting.

This is a great start. Just something to keep in mind  - underwater shots tend to be ethereal and idealized, so up close and personal tends to be jarring. Howard Schatz sets a high bar in his book "Pool Light". I don't know if it's still in print or hugely expensive but you can see the pictures online.

Keep those pictures coming!

I have done at least fifty underwater shoots and your first efforts are at least as good as my first efforts, but, nevertheless, you are still at the bottom of a fairly steep learning curve.

It is a pity that there is no exif data attached to your photos because that would make it easier to provide specific advice, but some general points can still be made.

Many above have commented about the blue-green colour cast.  The cast is an inevitable consequence of shooting underwater because water is slightly blue and absorbs the red end of the spectrum.

You can compensate somewhat by using a red filter.  You can also adjust the colour temperature in post, and doing so will also improve the contrast.

The advice to keep more distance between yourself and your model is well intentioned, but will aggravate the blue-green cast.  Try to use as short a focal length as you can tolerate and stay in close to your model to reduce the path length which will minimise the loss of the red light.

As also mentioned above, the choice of model is important and probably more important than when working in air because, as I am sure you have discovered, communication underwater is exceedingly difficult, so the scope for direction is minimal.  The two models you have worked with have definite promise as an underwater model, but it can take several shoots for a model to realise their potential.

Dancers, gymnasts, strippers, yoga exponents, and competitive swimmers generally take to underwater work more readily than other models.

Edit the raw file in photoshop and use the whitebalance eyedropper on something that is the same distance from the camera as the model and is a neutral white or gray.

Since these photos are overwhelmed w/ blue light your WB and Tint will be very high.

HTH
James