Photo Question?

[wjefferis]

I am having a problem with my underwater camera and was wondering if any of you could help me. First, let me tell you what my gear is. I have a 35mm Sea&Sea MX-5 II with a Sea&Sea YS-20A strobe. I use 400 speed film and set my strobe to the 400 speed setting. Now for my problem. I went out to the Russian Freighter about a month ago and took some photos. I entered the water at about 1:00 pm and it was pretty sunny. When I had my photos developed it looked like I was on a night dive. The area righ in front of my camera was bright but the background was pitch dark. Is it a sub-standard strobe problem or a sub-standard operator problem? You can see the pictures i'm talking about by clicking on my gallery under my stats section.

 

[Warren_L]

I am having a problem with my underwater camera and was wondering if any of you could help me. First, let me tell you what my gear is. I have a 35mm Sea&Sea MX-5 II with a Sea&Sea YS-20A strobe. I use 400 speed film and set my strobe to the 400 speed setting. Now for my problem. I went out to the Russian Freighter about a month ago and took some photos. I entered the water at about 1:00 pm and it was pretty sunny. When I had my photos developed it looked like I was on a night dive. The area righ in front of my camera was bright but the background was pitch dark. Is it a sub-standard strobe problem or a sub-standard operator problem? You can see the pictures i'm talking about by clicking on my gallery under my stats section.

The problem is most likely your shutter speed/aperature selection. The strobe is really only good to light up your foreground to maybe about 6 feet or so, give or take. The background is generally dependent on ambient light, which is unaffected by your strobe.

What aperature/shutter speed are you using? If it is really dark, I would use as wide an aperature as possible and slow the shutter speed right down. Around where I am from (the Great Lakes), we often have limited viz, especially down deep, and I routinely shoot 1/15th - 1/30th sec shutter speed with f/4. Sometimes even 1/8th sec. Also keep in mind that the deeper you are, the less ambient light there will be as well.

 

[herman]

There is not a lot you can do about dark backrounds with that camera. In general, the backround of an UW photo is mainly determined by the shutter speed. The MX-5 (and 10) have fixed shutter speeds so you have no option for slower ones- slower speeds = lighter backrounds. Using a high ISO, as small an F-Stop number as you can and shooting in the brightest days will help as long as you don't overexpose the near grounds but you are going to have to be happy with dark backrounds at depths more than a few feet or shoot in very shallow water. This is the reason you constantly see people insisting on having a camera with full manual controls. Your best bet is to stick to close up and macro shots and don't worry too much about the backround.

 

[wjefferis]

Thank you both for your input, you have been a great help.