52 Assignments - Underwater Photography by Alex Mustard

It's hard to make a living selling underwater photographs now that magazines have almost disappeared, and there never was much demand for underwater shots in the better-paid advertising photography world.

But Alex Mustard, one of the most talented of the "new generation" of underwater photographers, has carved out a niche for himself as an underwater photography educator and is very good at it!

His latest book is called 52 Assignments. As an old photo pro from "the good old days," I assumed it would be a record of paid assignments he'd completed (and was surprised he had completed so many) - my mistake.

It is instead a set of 52 excellent underwater photography assignments he offers readers to develop their underwater photography skills. He provides a set of instructions and excellent examples (some of which might be familiar to Mustard devotees) of the results the reader might hope to achieve.

He's been imaginative with enigmatic chapter titles suggesting different approaches. Typical are "Shooting from the Hip" (my favorite way of photographing big toothy creatures), "Beam Me Up" (capturing beams of light in caverns), and "Bossing Depth of Field" (selecting an appropriate lens opening to control background focus).

I'm impressed not only with Mustard's comprehensive photographic repertoire of images, taken over two decades but also that Alex the magician generously reveals the magic behind his tricks.

Its 126 pages come in a handy hard-back A5 size (about 6x8 inches) that will fit conveniently into a traveling underwater photographer's carry-on, and its content will no doubt be voraciously consumed during long air flights to tropical destinations.

52 Assignments - Underwater Photography by Alex Mustard costs $19.99 and is available from Amazon and other booksellers.

- John Bantin