How much would a strobe help these pics??

[MASS-Diver]

(Newbie warning). I shot these pictures with my Canon G9 in a ikelight housing. It looks like I'll have to drop another $600-800 to pick up a strobe to work with the hardwired TLL rig that came with the housing.

For that kind of money, do you think I'll see [B1.) [/B] Marginal improvement in the back scatter, it's a P&S - don't waste the money on a strobe, it won't help that much. 2.) Some improvment, there will still be back scatter but the quality of the pics will improve. 3.) An Ikelite sub-strobe will change everything, your pics will be dramatically improved.

Here are some examples (resized but unedited) of what I'm getting here in the dark, low viz NE:

 

[MASS-Diver]

 

[ShakaZulu]

I will help a lot, but it won't do anything for your trim

 

[MASS-Diver]

I will help a lot, but it won't do anything for your trim

These are not self-portraits.....my trim is tight :cool2:

But, hey isn't this you teaching a class last week *wink*

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

LOL Nice one Roy!

Any light helps, but you need to try to shoot up to capture some ambient light in your distance shots. From the backscatter in the photos you must have an internal flash. Using a strobe will definitely give you more light and allow you to position the strobe away so you get less backscatter. You would probably tape off your internal flash and use it to trigger your strobe..

I hope this helps!

Sean

 

[AndyT]

External strobes positioned correctly will help reduce backscatter. But by the looks of things you were too far from the subject in these pics for them to be of much assistance in lighting it. Strobes generally work best at less than 7 feet from the subject.

 

[gert7to3]

Her's a strobe positioning chart which may help you understand what a strobe can do for you.

http://www.kelpfish.net/strobe.swf

 

[ScubaSeanMaui]

Pretty cool document. Some very interesting strobe setups!

Sean