Hi and welcome to another one of my underwater photography blogs with Sairee Cottage Diving. This time I will be talking about the use of a side mount configuration with underwater photography. Side mount diving is when you have two tanks, one on each side of your body rather than a single tank on your back.
Side Mount Benefits for Underwater Photographers
It has many benefits over the usual single tank most divers stick with. First off and most obviously it looks seriously cool. Whenever there is someone getting into side mount, tec, or a rebreather system newer divers will always be staring and asking questions about this new kit they have never seen before and how can they dive like that.
The biggest benefit of side mount for photographers is the extra time we get down there to concentrate on a chosen subject matter. Double the tanks double the time. We can also have the tanks filled up with a higher percentage of oxygen as long as your Nitrox certified meaning much longer NDL’s and if your certified as a solo diver then you can use this system to safely solo dive.
There are so many benefits of diving with the side mount configuration and virtually no drawbacks to this over a the usual single tank. The only problem I had while taking photos with the two tanks was that you are kept in perfect trim and it is hard to position yourself in ways other than perfect trim so some photography angles can be hard to reach. This however will only get easier given enough time and practice.
Overall using side mount massively increases safety and gives us a lot more time while diving meaning we can concentrate on getting the shots we want.
Read more about why you should become a side mount diver.
Thinking about becoming a professional diver? Join the family at Sairee Cottage Diving Koh Tao by signing up for your Divemaster course today!
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