Strobe Virgin needs help

[divebrasil]

Hi,
I was finally able to put my rig together. I was impressed with how long the arms get with the 7", the 5" and the S&S conector plus the clamps.

Here are 2 things I would appreciate some help with:
- How would you suggest I hook the fiber optic cable to the arms? I noticed the strobe can be very far from the camera for a wide angle shot, the fiber optic cable gets all stretched out.

- Besides that one famous flash based strobe positioning guide, is there some articles on strobe positioning for beginners?

I appreciate your help.

Thanks

 

[seaducer]

I would wrap the cable around the strobe arms so that it doesn't float around and possibly interefere with your shot. Just check to make sure you have full range of motion.

I have no idea about books though...

 

[chucklindsey]

Search around the ikelight site. I seem to remember when i was getting started they had a really good page on little tips and tricks. Happy Shooting!!!

 

[dbh]

For basic strobe positioning:

Welcome to DigitalDiver.net!

When my srtrobes are in close, I hook my FO cables over my arm clamps.

HTH,
Dave

 

[AbyssalPlains]

The first time I used my dual strobes, I made the mistake to aim them both toward the subject, which resulted in big backscatter problems. The trick is to position them such that their light cones barely overlap at just the distance of where the subject is. It sounds really dorky, but I found it helpful to look up the coverage angles in the tech specs, and then cut out two cardboard angles that mimic the light cone (only two-dimensional, of course, but if you wanted to get fancy, you could roll them up and make them 3-D). I then held those two cardboard angles up to my strobes and tried to visualize where the they would intersect and adjust the strobe angles accordingly. Basically, any position in which the strobes aim straight forward or slightly outward is acceptable. Aiming them inward is a big no-no for wide-angle, but in macro, it may well be appropriate. In fact, if you are really close to the subject, you have no choice but aiming them inward. As a rule of thumb, try to aim the strobes as much outward as you can without losing light coverage in the center of the picture. Hope that helps a bit. Other than that, it really comes down to practice, practice, practice.

 

[divebrasil]

Hey Guys,
thanks for all the advices.

I have removed the smaller arm for now. I think since I have no experience dealing with strobe arms, I should start with a small setup and then add the second arm when I get more comfortable. At least for the first couples dives I think I will go with the one arm piece.

I have also added some zip ties to keep the fiver optic cable close to the arms.

Please take a look and let me know what you think.

Thanks so much and happy holidays!

 

[divebrasil]

Hey guys,
any opinions on my setup?

Thanks

 

[Larry C]

For most uses it should be fine. The longer arms are nice for wide angle. If you're in clear water, most single stobe users seem to like straight above and straight ahead. Depends a lot on what you're shooting and where you want the light to come from.

 

[divebrasil]

Hi Larry.
I will be diving in yucatan in 2 weeks. Water should be pretty clear.

What do you mean by "straight ahead"? I have been reading that we should point the strobe so it's light spectrum just brushes the subject, it's not direct on the subject. Is that correct?

Larry, on another note, do you take all pics in iso 100? Would you mind sharing your "my mode" settings?

Thanks

 

[Larry C]

If the strobe is high enough, straight ahead will give you an edge lighting on most subjects in your picture range. I use two strobes, and due to the high amount of particulate in our water I normally aim them outward slightly for normal shooting and inward slightly for super macro.
My MyMode setting for most shooting in California's dark waters is 1/60@f5.6, +/- 0, macro on, front curtain external flash, autofocus on, full time autofocus off, auto white balance, RAW. For supermacro, all settings are the same except 1/125@f8, supermacro, manual focus. For wide angle, I go to 1/80@f4 autofocus or Shutter priority @ 1/80 manual focus for action shots. I set the manual focus at about 6 feet. That gives you decent focus from about 4ft. to infinity.
When I dive tropical, especially shallow, I've had to go up to 1/125@f6.3-f8 to preserve highlights in normal (std. macro) or wide shooting. Supermacro doesn't change. Generally macro works fine down to about 10". If I want 1 to 1 shooting down at 2 or 3 inches I go to super macro and just move the camera in and out till I get the sharpest image and shoot 5 or 6 times, or as long as the subject will stick around between RAW shots.