Sharks have long had the reputation of being the ocean's bad boys, but the truth is that they're rarely encountered by divers. So, to bring home great shark shots, you've got to have a combination of luck, pluck and a fair bit of photographic skill.

Today, sharks are far more accessible than they once were, and divers have ample opportunities to capture shark images safely, even those of great whites. Guadalupe Island is only a 22-hour steam off San Diego, and several dive operators now offer easy, clear-water cage dives with great whites. Likewise, day-trippers out of Capetown travel to Gansbaai in South Africa to see great white sharks relatively easily. Dyer Island is only six miles offshore, and during the season there are dozens of operators that offer cage dives with great white sharks. These popular white shark hot spots, combined with the traditional white shark grounds in South Australia, make great white shark images far more plentiful.

Caribbean reef sharks are even more accessible, at least in this hemisphere. The first sport dives with Carcharhinus perezii were conducted by Stella Maris Resort in the southern Bahamas more than 30 years ago. Today, shark interaction has been elevated to an art form by operations like Stuart Cove's Dive Bahamas as they have developed methods of bringing sharks on cue for motion pictures, including the recently released Into The Blue. I've booked Stuart's sharks on several occasions for commercial photo shoots, and was recently on location as photo coach for Shark Shootout 2005. The novelty of the Caribbean reef shark ID shot is long gone, and at this event, it took teeth and attitude to stand out in a field of stellar images. The most impressive images involved bite shots, and shooters were very creative about how to get into the shoot zone to capture that decisive moment.

Sport divers rarely encounter some species, like Greenland and thresher sharks, so capturing them at all is special, even if from a distance. But for the more accessible species, which include great whites, tigers, Caribbean reef, sand tigers and gray reef sharks, the bar has been raised. How can a shark shooter rise above mediocrity? Here are a few tips to help you get the definitive shark image.

Research the Destination

The classic bite shot takes cooperation with the shark feeder, good timing and a little bit of luck.

Unless you immerse yourself in a destination where the odds of a shark encounter are high, you'll likely get skunked. Sharks require close access for powerful images, and typically that is achieved with bait. Research dive magazines and the web, and you'll soon see common threads in terms of where the best images are captured. Great shots of tiger sharks were likely captured during a charter on the Shear Water to the West End of Grand Bahama—and if you see a hot shot of a great hammerhead, it likely came from photographers aboard the Shear Water as well. There are also tiger shark dives off Durban, South Africa, that offer safe, close encounters. Images of scalloped hammerheads were probably taken during a live-aboard expedition to Cocos Island or the Galapagos. Gray reef shark images were likely taken during a Coral Sea shark feed off Australia. Atlantic sand tigers are found on many North Carolina wrecks. Black-tip reef sharks abound in French Polynesia. White-tips are common in the Revillagigedos Islands, as well as Cocos and the Galapagos. White sharks are most often photographed in Guadalupe, South Africa or South Australia. There are few secret destinations for shark action these days, and the best first step is to go where sharks reliably can be found, and to go during the right season.

Research the Shark Operator

This diver was photographed far from the great white shark reflected in his face mask. But a little compositing in photoshop provided the proximity geography could not.

The talent of the shark wrangler is a huge factor. A committed shark operator thoroughly understands what it takes to get the sharks to within inches of your dome, and does so safely and professionally. This is no easy task. I've been on expensive shoots that nearly came to disaster because the wrangler couldn't or wouldn't get fresh bait. I've been on shoots where the wranglers weren't committed enough to keep the chum slick going 24/7. Luckily, I have been on many more shoots with shark wranglers who simply love being close to sharks. They have studied the species and the local environment, and they know what to do to make the encounter happen. While the wrangler may not be a photographer, he understands the physics of underwater imaging and realizes the best shots happen very close, with a minimum of particulate matter for less backscatter.

Finally, the best shark wranglers allow photographers to push the limits a little. The best operators watch their customers and realize who can probably get a little closer, push a little harder and perform at a higher level. They know who has the instincts and experience to push the envelope, and they'll provide the space to make it happen. Following a wrangler's rules explicitly is the best way to earn a bit more latitude. This requires developing a relationship with the wrangler. Some mass-market shark feeds have to go by the book, because as soon as one diver deviates, so will the rest of the group. But with wilderness shark feeds, responsible photographers may be allowed to exercise their own creativity and risk tolerance.

Dress for Success

Dress like a shark warrior: Cover parts of your body that could invite an exploratory bite. Even ultra-clear water will get stirred up by chum and sharks swirling about, so visual cues can get confused. Wear a full wetsuit, including hood and gloves as an absolute minimum. I like to wear chain-mail sleeves when I shark dive, especially on the arm I use to hold my strobe. There's something about the electromagnetic pulse of the recycle that often sparks an overly close encounter, as the teeth marks on my Ikelite DS125 will attest.

How To Do It Differently

This is the big challenge in shark photography. Here are a few rules, based on some techniques that have worked for me in the past:

Go for the teeth. No matter how creative your lighting, you won't pull much expression from the black, emotionless pit of a shark's eye. Its teeth, on the other hand, tell quite a story about the shark. From the curved pincers of the sand tiger to the familiar serrated triangle of the great white, the shape of the teeth is a biological identifier, and more significantly, an emotional trigger. The close-focus wide-angle shot of the cavernous maw of an attacking great white is an iconic example.

Consider black and white. Sharks are typically monochromatic, and often make spectacular black-and-white images. For digital photographers, there are many tools for efficient black-and-white conversions post-shoot (see http://stephenfrink.com/sf-tips/200409capturingblue/).

Try over/unders. Some of the more dramatic shark images are captured with the camera half-in, half-out of the water, although with some species of sharks this can be risky. I remember being perched on an outboard, working over/unders of great whites in South Africa, focused on the shark before my dome and totally unaware of the second shark about to bite my Achilles tendon. If it hadn't been for the cries of alarm from my friends, prompting an instinctive knee-jerk, this article would be by "Stumpy" Frink.

Rig a polecam. Sometimes great shark images can be made by putting a remote-controlled housed camera in the midst of a feeding frenzy. My Seacam housing has a port to facilitate a remote trigger, and the Nikonos RS likewise has a factory remote release perfect to execute polecam shots. Photographers are very clever in rigging polecam systems. Once while in South Africa, Doug Perrine had his housed camera on a long rod, cabled trigger in hand, while watching the scene through the viewfinder by means of a housed lipstick video cam feeding into a goggle-style monitor. Clearly, he'd done his homework.

Don't forget the topside. Some of the strongest shots of sharks happen as they lunge out of the water in pursuit of bait. While the "Air Jaws" shot of a fully airborne great white is a tough one to bring home, many species of sharks feed on marine mammals and birds at the surface, lunging out of the water for food. Artful shark wrangling can make that happen in front of your lens.

Photoshop can be your friend. Judicious application of Photoshop tools can enhance your shark photography. Besides the obvious backscatter removal, Photoshop can whiten teeth, redden gums, selectively sharpen teeth, imply motion or even allow a whimsical rendition of your favorite shark photo.