Tiger Shark Photography guide (Tiger Beach edition)

I’ve been to Tiger Beach many times with the Bimini Scuba Center and have honed by my tiger shark photography skills. Here are my top strategies for tiger shark photography at Tiger Beach. With a few tips and tricks, you’ll be ready to capture iconic tiger shark photos on your trip to Tiger Beach.

If you already aren’t familiar with the set-up of Neal’s Tiger Beach dive, check out this post. There are a number of operators that run trips to Tiger Beach, so always listen to your briefing and follow the instructions of the crew and dive masters on your boat.

Now that you’re oriented. A couple considerations before you get in the water:

  1. How Scared Are You?: Diving with tiger sharks for the first time can be a huge adrenalin rush. I still wonder who booked the trip when I’m on the 2 hour boat ride from West End, Grand Bahama out to Tiger Beach. If you’re super nervous or you’ve never done a tiger dive before, then take the pressure off of the tiger shark photography for the first 15 minutes (or more) of the first dive. If you’re new to big shark diving, focus on watching the sharks (the #1 rule of Tiger Beach is do not take your eyes off of the tiger sharks), breathing slowly, and feeling calm in the water.
  2. I Don’t Shoot on Manual Mode: As I mentioned, the #1 rule of Tiger Beach is do not take your eyes off of the tiger sharks, and this means you can’t have your focus be on your camera settings while you’re under water. I will make sure my settings look correct before I put my camera in the housing and again on the boat before I jump in the water. I shoot on shuttle speed priority so that I can adjust just the shuttle speed when I am under water. Another way to lessen the time you spend adjusting your settings is to have pre-saved settings in manual mode. Tiger Beach is a shallow dive with generally lots of sun.
  3. Shutter Speed: Tiger sharks swim slow, but the last think you want is a blurry tiger! I shoot with a shutter of (at least) 250.
  4. Lens: I generally bring my Tamron 28-75 mm to Tiger Beach. If you’re familiar with the Bimini hammerhead dive, the bait box at Tiger Beach is a little farther from the line of divers than it is with the hammerheads, so you need the flexibility to zoom a little to capture detail at the bait box. If you’re going on a private charter, then you may have the opportunity to get closer to the box and the tiger sharks, and, if that’s the case, a wide angle lens will suit you well.
  5. Shark IDs: To be honest, tiger sharks all pretty much look the same to me. Seasoned Tiger Beach feeders and dive masters will be able to identify the individuals, but most visitors to Tiger Beach can’t… with two exceptions. There are two sharks that are Tiger Beach institutions – Emma and Butt Face/Jitterbug. Emma is the grandma of Tiger Beach and she looks…well.. old. Butt Face was hit in the face by something and has a little dent her nose (she’s also pretty feisty and will get close to divers on the line.

Here are some popular angles for capturing the great hammerhead and the magic that is the hammerhead dive:

Just the Shark

Feeding Shots

Overhead Shots

Position on the Tiger Beach Dive to Get Certain Shots

On the End: Being on the end of the line will increase the likelihood that you can take photos of the sharks without any divers in them and get more one-on-one moments with the sharks. This is my personal favorite! My breath is literally taken away any time a tiger shark swims right up to me. The only way to guaranty you are on the end is to be the first diver in the water, but it’s possible to change positions while on the dive. If I am on the end, I will usually ask the person next to me if they want to switch after a while (gotta shark the tiger love).

Behind the Feeder: If you are slightly to the left of the feeder (see diagram below), this is usually the best place to take feeder shots. Most (and I stress most) of the time (because every dive is different), the feeders will more often feed with their right hand, and it will pull the shark around from right to left. If you are slightly to the left of the feeder, this will *hopefully* set you up to get open mouth shots.

Always Watch the Tigers: The first rule of Tiger Beach is to always watch the tiger sharks.

Rolling with the Punches

The tigers are wild animals, and no dive is the same. My motto for any ocean activity is ALWAYS – Better lucky than good. Any day I see any shark is a good day. If I don’t end up in the spot that feels like the *best* spot on that particular dive that, I know I will still get some cools shots, and another shark lover may be having the best day of their life. I hope you enjoy the tiger shark photography as much as I do!

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