Lighting on Manta Night Dives

[Fogtownboy]

We will be doing a couple of night dives in Kona to see Mantas. I shoot an Olympus TG-6 with two Sea & Sea YS-D2J strobes. I am wondering if the ambient light from the "campfire" set up by the operators is sufficient or whether to use the strobes (knowing I will pick up more backscatter). Thanks for any and all input.

 

[sea_ledford]

Just because you bring the strobes doesn't mean you have to use them!

 

[JackConnick]

Trying to shoot with strobes will be pretty hard. The idea of the lights they set up is to attract krill that the Mantas feed on. Best to have a flood light of your own to also attract them to you as well. Strobes will just give a lot of backscatter. Use a high ISO and open the aperture to shoot available light. A wide angle lens is pretty essential, IMHO.

 

[MtnDiverColorado]

I did one of these a year ago, and there was plenty of light to record, just on my Go Pro, without having to use a flash light at all. The flash light though seems to attract the mantas (or it attracts the plankton which attracts the mantas).

 

[Scubagolf]

Screenshot from video with strobes during Manta Ray dive in November 2021.

 

[Scottmurillo]

When I was there we were the last group and there was only one "campfire" so there was not too much light. I used my strobes and pictures came out really good. There was a little backscatter but nothing crazy. Just like sea_ledford said, you dont have to use them, but I think I'd rather have them just incase.

 

[Fogtownboy]

When I was there we were the last group and there was only one "campfire" so there was not too much light. I used my strobes and pictures came out really good. There was a little backscatter but nothing crazy. Just like sea_ledford said, you dont have to use them, but I think I'd rather have them just incase.

Thanks for sharing your experience. Yeah, based on that and sea_ledford's good point, I'll bring the strobes. We usually dive Monterey Bay, where the viz is often less than great, so I have a fair bit of trigger time shooting in sub-optimal conditions. It will be interesting to see how this pans out. Thanks for the reply!

 

[cetacean]

@Fogtownboy

Take your strobes. I've done this dive numerous times (mostly off the [now old] Kona Aggressor)...

If you are shooting stills you will want your strobes. Some of the advice above is good, some of it is focused on video (only), and some seems fairly inexperienced.

You will be on the sand, which means that most of the backscatter will be your own doing (or your buddy's). Be as still as you can, and try to get away from other divers (but not so far away you can't shoot images).

In addition to the strobes, mount the strongest spotting light you have to the top of your housing. The mantas feed in the light because it attracts the "food" - the mantas seem to be able to distinguish between stronger lights and weaker lights - they definitely will tend to get closer to stronger light sources. You're not trying to compete with whatever lights are being used (either from the surface for the snorkelers, or from the bottom for divers), you want a strong light so that when the mantas circle around the outside some of them come very close to you.

Last bit of advice (learned this first hand from one of the DM's on the Aggressor): after you settle in on the sand (around the boundary) you can spend 15-20 min watching/shooting all the mantas circling above the center, but after you get over the initial excitement...

Back up 10-15 feet, lie on your back directly on the sand, and point your light straight up. You will find several of the mantas will start swimming through your light (as they circle around), and you will get some great "personal" manta image opportunities.

These will be different images (not the 3-5 mantas in an image all feeding), but very close "flyby's" right above you.

DM showed me this trick and I've used it more than 1/2 dozen times...

 

[DavidFL]

+1 to having/using your own bright video lights to get some direct close encounters. This clip was taken with my TG6: Nighttime Manta Rays off Kona

This photo was taken by Mo, the Kona Aggressor videographer; you can see the big white 'firepit' light cone and also my video lights (one on red, one on deep blue); my dive buddy and I had to repeatedly duck during these great flyovers

and this is a still photo extracted from a TG-6 video frame when I was using my video lights on white.

 

[Chris Stock]

@cetacean , that sounds amazing. Great advice.