How do you take pictures underwater? What equipment do I need?

I am going to the Flordia Key in two weeks. I know all about the camera water casing (they cost alot). I was thinking about buying desposible underwater cameras, but my instructor that the cameras would not take good pictures. I own a Digital SLR camera, but I think it would be risky to bring it underwater, even with a covering. Should I buy a waterproof digital camera (Camera types?)? Any solutions (Not requiring loads of money)?
Also, is there any "rules" to taking pictures underwater? Lastly, is there any procedures to taking good pictures underwater?

Rubbish. A disposable will be OK if you're only snorkeling, but the photo quality royally sucks (underwater only). I tried using 30(?) meter disposables on 10 dives in Cozumel and NO underwater photos were even a little acceptable.

You reference an instructor, so we can assume that you are diving. Most budget conscious divers go to Leisure Pro for their non-life-supporting accessories, but even there you will see housings aren't cheap. Best bet is to hold off on photography until you can drop the $200 on a good, reliable housing for your digital cam.

Rules- Always be aware of your surroundings. You and your buddies safety is first, getting a shot of the mermaid is a distant second.
It's all about the light. Read up on how to photograph underwater without a strobe (the Net is peppered with articles). If by 'rules' you meant 'laws' regarding photographing underwater, the answer is "if you can see it, you can photograph it" (unless diving Area 51).

Good luck!

I've always used the disposable ones and have had some great pictures!

you should get digtal underwater camera it's great you can take picture underwater clearly i got one is work great

I would only buy an 'underwater camera' if I was SERIOUS about taking 'underwater photos' and a 'professional level' photographer. Since you are just wanting some 'cool vacation pictures' I'd say by the 'underwater disposables' (get at LEAST 5, because you will want to take LOADS of pictures, and get at least 'half' of the 'right' ...) and then go diving and 'shoot, shoot, shoot' ... if you have access to a computer while on your trip, you can 'download' the pictures and know what you 'did' to take the best ones, and do that again the next time you go diving. GOOD LUCK!

I would use a disposable, but you can buy probably buy a housing to fit your digital. Housings work great and are watertight. Most underwater pictures suffer from lack of lighting. It gets darker the farther you go under, BUT most the colourful stuff is more towards the surface anyway.

If you want great pictures underwater buy the underwater camera,don't take a risk on breaking yours.If your only going to take a few underwater pictures just get a underwater dispoable camera.

Someone in your diving club should know all of this and hands-on is the best way to learn.

As you dive deeper, you loose the red light so the images start to look cyan in colour. The only way around this is to use flash on the camera.

The camera used for years was the Nikonos and it is still one of the best.

You should be able to find a housing for your digial, but they sometimes cost more than the camera itself.

You will have to do your own search on the web to find a housing that will work with your model camera

Check out the FujiFilm FinePix F30 Camera. They are supposed to be good underwater.

I've used the disposable underwater cameras, they work ok for snapshots but if you want quality images, you're better off either getting a good underwater housing for your camera or buying a nicer camera intended for underwater use.

There are some point-and-shoot digital camera that can be used underwater up to a certain depth, they do a pretty good job, better than a disposable at least.

The thing about underwater photography though is that you'll really want an off-camera strobe to get the best image possible. If you use the flash that's on-camera, you get lots of light spots on your images from the flash reflecting off of little things in the water.

You might want to see if you can find a used Nikonos. They're Nikon's 35mm SLR cameras made specifically for underwater photography.

One other suggestion, once you get a camera try to find somewhere to practice before you go out into the ocean, underwater photography is quite a bit more difficult than photographing things on land. A swimming pool is a good place to start off before you head out into open water. In the last photography class I took we spent one class period in a swimming pool attempting to do underwater photography, it was a lot of fun but way more difficult that you would think, I know it would have been a lot harder in the ocean.