To strobe or not to strobe? - Underwater Photography Forum

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Photography Forum: Underwater Photography Forum:

Q. To strobe or not to strobe?

Asked by Bill Reed (K=0) on 6/23/2005

Greetings all. I am very new to "real" underwater photography having gone from a Canon Sureshot that was only good up to 15 feet, but took some really good pictures, to using a Sealife Reefmaster CL. I am heading to the Keys next month and need some advice. I used the Reefmaster in the Caymans last year in about 30ft and colors seemed okay. I am curious if I should just go ahead and add the strobe at this point. I will be shooting in water no deeper than 45ft. Will the built in flash be enough? Any advice you may be able to provide would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

Phillip Cohen

(K=10561) - Comment Date 6/27/2005

Bill,

I have shot at the Caymans many times, and a flash is absolutely mandatory. The brighter the better, even 2 of them if you can swing it. Here is a link to some of my images taken there. http://pwcphoto.com/Series/underwater/GrandCayman/GrandCayman.htm down about 45 feet or so. From my experience shooting deeper then about 5 feet all images can benifit from flash.

Here is an image that kind of shows what your are missing if you don't use flash. Notice the plants sticking up that look to be grey/blue in color. Well they have lots of color just like the stuff in the foreground. They are a little bit past the effective light distance of my strobes so you are seeing the normal light from the sun as filtered by the water. Big difference, all the stuff on that rock would have looked to be the same grey/blue as the plants in the background. Use flash all the time!

Phil

Grand Cayman 45 Feet

Phillip Cohen

(K=10561) - Comment Date 6/27/2005

Bill,

THis was the setup used to photo the stuff at the link I gave you and the photo above.

Nikonos V, SB102 &103

john Cambece (K=188) - Comment Date 1/26/2006

wow the whole consept of underwater photography amazes me...

Cambece

Chris Utano (K=46) - Comment Date 4/25/2006

Any dive deeper than 4 or 5 ft, the water will start to filter out colors. A strobe is very important. Keep in mind that you must use a strobe with a good strobe arm. One that will bring the strobe away and at an angle from the lense. This will decrease the amount of "back scatter" from particles in between you and the subject. Looks like snow in the picture.

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