Help Lighting Sharks

[Hetland]

I'm used to shooting at fixed distances, and normally shoot Manual mode, and manually adjust lighting on each of my two Inon strobes (D2000 and Z240) which I trigger with a fiber optic.

I found shooting sharks difficult at best. I was always WAY over or under exposed.

Any hints or tips I can take with me on my next trip????

 

[dumpsterDiver]

Back when I was using a Nikonos, I would try to open up the lens so the ambient light would be close to working without the flash. This is the way to shoot wide angle with a flash with a lot of water in the background. it will still be sensitive to the angle of the camera, if you point up is different than pointing down.

 

[jcclink]

Ambient light can vary greatly depending on position of the sun & angle of the camera. I've had the best luck shooting on Program mode & using strobes for fill. Something like f8 at 1/125 is usually close, but varies with lighting.

 

[Hetland]

Thanks guys, I was shooting closer to f4, and was certainly not shooting up. Sometimes you need someone else to tell you what you're doing wrong ;-)

 

[Interceptor121]

Galapagos Shark School by Interceptor121, on Flickr

Sharks are very difficult to lit. In my galapagos trip I shot an Inon UWL-H100 in hindsight a mini dome for the 28mm or even better 24mm would have been enough as the sharks are shy and don't come close

The key issue is not to underexpose the belly and still show the blue water as a shark does not really look good without water

I start with the shutter speed sharks are usually cruising slow (those you can actually photograph) so I start at 1/60 then set the aperture in the sweet spot of the camera to have good sharpness in my case f/4 finally play with the ISO so that you can see the blue water without excessive noise. Take a few shots without strobe and check you can see the reef or whatever you want as background then move into strobes you start from 1/2 power to max 3/4 on powerful strobes (Z240 or YS-D1) otherwise the belly of the shark comes overexposed as it is white. You need long arms I had 8+5 but I think *+8 would have been better
Photo Rig by Interceptor121, on Flickr