What to do to stop back scatter???

[f3nikon]

I dive in water with relatively low vis (sometimes it's better than the tropics, but on average it's not so good). I try to get as close as possible. That's the main trick that everybody knows about. I also try to get as much natural light in the background as possible. I use a fast ISO (usually 400), semi-wide aperature (f5.6-8) and a slow shutter speed (1/30-1/60 sec.). Any illuminated particles are drowned out by the bright background. Most of the pictures in my website are full of backscatter, but you just cant see most of it.

Thats correct shooting close should be the first move.

 

[cerich]

God advice so far, one thing that I haven't seen mentioned was good bouyancy/trim control.

Back in the day when I used to teach u/w photo in Cayman I quite frequently had to have students leave the camera on shore and teach/show/practice how to get up and close without disturbing the water. In other words cave techniques.

Many new shutterbugs do lots of macro and close up wide angle shots starting out because they can look great with less than great technique, unfortunatly those shots are where backscatter is most likely to occur.

On another note, you'll notice that many cameras now come with strobe arms as a package, in the past that was a little less common. Most of the packages I see with the newer digital sets have quite short arms, that appeals to a newer shutterbug. It seems like it will be easier to manipulate(it is) and has the more "pro" look, however shorter arms will leave you with more backscatter. My old V setup with dual strobes in the water is almost 5 feet wide strobe to strobe when extended.