Aquatic Photography Definition: Backscatter

While the term sounds like a skittish fish making a run for shelter in a nearby reef, the term ‘backscatter’ refers to the small white dots that sometimes show up on underwater images as a result of the flash lighting up a floating particulate or minute item on the subject or in the background. This issue can be particularly troublesome if your flash is very close to your lens (such as shooting with a compact camera). In order to minimize backscatter, position your strobe further away from the lens and reposition it at a 45 degree angle above the subject. If you still find backscatter appearing on your images, using an image editing program to remove it may be your best post-processing option.