Wide-Angle with One Strobe
Recently I was charging the batteries from one of my strobes in-between dives. I forgot to put the batteries back in, so underwater I soon realized that I was only shooting with one strobe!
Well I figured, let’s turn this into a learning opportunity, play around with strobe positions, and create some wide-angle photos with just one strobe. I had my Tokina 10-17mm fisheye lens on. I was diving at Anacapa Island in the Northern Channel Islands in Southern California.
Visibility wasn’t great, maybe 10 meters, but it wasn’t bad for the area.
Here’s what I took on that dive:
F7, 1/200th, ISO 400. Red sea fans
Red Sea fan with diver
F10, 1/160th, ISO 500. Rarely seen Gurney’s Sea pen, and my dive buddy. The dome port is almost touching the sea pen.
F7, 1/160th, ISO 500. 2 meter long giant black sea bass, fleeing the scene. Unless they are in a mating/cleaning area, most black sea bass are quite skittish.
F9, 1/160th, ISO 500. Behavior shot. Large 1.5 meter Halibut taking off from the sand.
I was pretty happy with the lighting that I got with one strobe.
Strobe position for wide-angle with one strobe
Underwater photo tips for using one strobe
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Use your diffuser
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Don’t point the strobe right at the subject, point it straight ahead
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The further away the subject, the further the strobe should be from the housing
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Shoot wide, get close!
Further Reading
