The very first attempt at underwater photography was by William Thompson in Dorset, UK, who in 1856 used a wet collodion glass plate camera to create the photo.
In 1893 French zoologist Louis Boutan shot the image listed as the world’s first underwater photograph. It was a first both in terms of being the first underwater photograph, where both the camera and the photographer were underwater. It was taken with a magnesium powder flash. Also, it was the first published underwater photograph. Some sources claim that the portrait was captured at a depth of 164 feet.
The image is listed as the world’s first underwater photograph.
![underwater photograph](http://i0.wp.com/themindcircle.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/first-underwater-photograph-1.jpg)
The first underwater photograph was taken on a wet collodion plate in 1856 by William Thompson.
![underwater photograph](http://i0.wp.com/themindcircle.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/first-underwater-photograph-2.jpg)
Louis Boutan’s underwater image taken with magnesium flash in 1893.
Romanian biologist, zoologist, speleologist, Antarctic explorer and Diver Emil Racovitza at Observatoire Océanologique de Banyuls-sur-Mer, France
![underwater photograph](http://i0.wp.com/themindcircle.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/first-underwater-photograph-3.jpg)
The incredible equipment Boutan used to take the first underwater portrait.
![](http://i0.wp.com/themindcircle.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/first-underwater-photograph-4.jpg)