I would like to second Dan's comments below about your photos... You are doing great with composition. His comments about DOF/F-stop setting and about using strobe diffusers with "hot flash" are spot on.
I am still learning underwater photography tricks, but I can share a principle for macro lighting that I use in dental photography which is also performed in a very restricted space with lots of shadowing issues and a need for good DOF. Here is a thought of mine that may be of use to attack your shadowing issue. Good macro rigs all have the strobes right at the front of the lens or slightly in front. The closer the subject, the closer the strobe heads need to be to the lens axis unless you have great fill lighting from multiple sources. In my "dry" photo world, I use a combination of a ring strobe and a point strobe. Both have moderate diffusion filters. The ring strobe mounts on the front filter threads of a 105mm lens while the point strobe is on the same mount and off one side, angled toward the axis of the lens. This picture gives you the idea:
The ring strobe give very even lighting and great color rendition while the offset point strobe can be used to get just the right amount of shadow to give the subject dimension. I don't remember your rig from our dive last month but think about arranging your strobe(s) to provide similar lighting. By making sure the strobes are forward of or level with the front of the lens, you will avoid having the lens/lens dome get in the way of the strobe - that will prevent one of the most common shadows that folks get in macro work. The other is to be aware of ledges, hands, gear being in the way of the flash path.
You may know this, but it always bears repeating/checking when you are trying to solve problems. Good shooting!
I am still learning underwater photography tricks, but I can share a principle for macro lighting that I use in dental photography which is also performed in a very restricted space with lots of shadowing issues and a need for good DOF. Here is a thought of mine that may be of use to attack your shadowing issue. Good macro rigs all have the strobes right at the front of the lens or slightly in front. The closer the subject, the closer the strobe heads need to be to the lens axis unless you have great fill lighting from multiple sources. In my "dry" photo world, I use a combination of a ring strobe and a point strobe. Both have moderate diffusion filters. The ring strobe mounts on the front filter threads of a 105mm lens while the point strobe is on the same mount and off one side, angled toward the axis of the lens. This picture gives you the idea:
The ring strobe give very even lighting and great color rendition while the offset point strobe can be used to get just the right amount of shadow to give the subject dimension. I don't remember your rig from our dive last month but think about arranging your strobe(s) to provide similar lighting. By making sure the strobes are forward of or level with the front of the lens, you will avoid having the lens/lens dome get in the way of the strobe - that will prevent one of the most common shadows that folks get in macro work. The other is to be aware of ledges, hands, gear being in the way of the flash path.
You may know this, but it always bears repeating/checking when you are trying to solve problems. Good shooting!
