Stupid question about strobes

[Janko]

Hi. I'm very new at underwater photography, in that I have taken zero total pictures. I will however, begin the process once I obtain a casing for my Canon SD-110.

Question is this: what exactly does a strobe accomplish underwater, and since my camera allegedly has a built-in strobe does this do the trick? Is 'strobe' just a word for 'flash'? I'm really unfamiliar with all this.

 

[Mako Mark]

Underwater photography needs LOTS AND LOTS of extra light, so that is why you need a strobe (fancy fotogeek talk for extra flash).

The internal flash may give you a little, but the fact that it is close to the lens means that the light going out that gets reflected by particles in the water, comes directly back to the lens and creates photos with "snow" or white speckles.

If your flash or strobe is off to the side on an arm, this reduces this backscatter and you get clearer photos.

The secret of taking great underwater photos: Take hundreds, and throw away most of them. That is the great thing about digital.

Have fun I am sure you will get some great advice fom this board, and make sure you post your photos for us to admire.

 

[Janko]

I see...thanks.
So is it common to just buy a standalone strobe and just disable the built-in flash?

 

[Aardal]

For the most part....Yep!

 

[Janko]

Is a strobe absolutely necessary, or will I survive without one so long as the water is clear enough?

 

[Divemonkey]

You can shoot strobeless, but drop the bucks as soon as possible. The reason is simple, because as they taught you in your cert class, water filters out the wavelengths of light and the deeper you go the less color you will see. With a strobe, you replace the light that was lost, giving you that vibrant explosive color you see in peoples photos. If your shooting macro, and have a strong dive light, you could try and cheat while they mail you your strobe, but yea, you really pretty much need a strobe.

Strobes are required for anything but maybe sillouette shots from the bottom looking up and shots within a couple feet of the surface. Get one that has an adjustable arm because you will learn that Strobe Placement and orientation is many times the difference between a good and a great shot. The snow that was mentioned before is called "Backscatter" and can be reduced or eliminated by figuring out the coverage angle of your strobe and positioning the subject you want to shoot near the edge of the strobes coverage, not in the center of it. You want as much unlit light between your lens and your subject as possible, with the strobes light falling on the subject and not the water in between to reduce Backscatter. PM me if you need me to translate all my geekspeak above.

 

[Divemonkey]

Hi. I'm very new at underwater photography, in that I have taken zero total pictures. I will however, begin the process once I obtain a casing for my Canon SD-110 Digital Elph.

Question is this: what exactly does a strobe accomplish underwater, and since my camera allegedly has a built-in strobe does this do the trick?

Is 'strobe' just a word for "bunch of flashes that happen when you push the button that takes the picture"?

I'm really unfamiliar with all this.

I answered alot of this in an earlier post, but since the term strobe confuses you a bit, just replace it with the word flash. Same thing. Yes a Strobe light is a flash, but the word comes from Stroboscope, which was a unit origonally used to do multiple image motion analisys by flashing very quickly several times a second and exposing multiple images of a subject in motion. In general today a Strobe is used in a single flash situation, but as you may have seen, a strobe light can be set to do a continous burst like the ones in a club that seems to freeze the action or add a sureal effect.

And yes, when you have red eye reduction turned on your camera will send out a series of rapid fire "pre-flashs" to get the subjects iris in thier eye to close down and reduce the dreaded "red eye" seen in many photos.

So in closing, Yes, buy a strobe, and if you can afford it maybe buy one with variable power such as the Sea and Sea YS90DX so that you can adjust the strobes output power without changing the distance or puting defusers on it to cut down the output. This is important since many times your strobe can blow out the subject with Too Much light. In general I say "Buy the most strobe you can afford in quality and features, you will grow into them as you go".

But temper that with an understanding that you may find one kind of photography more fun than another and may want to specialize, so remember that your gear must match your photographic style, and no one rig is right for every situation.

Get a good strobe, and enjoy the hobby awhile. Then decide what other gear you may need or want.

Matt

 

[Janko]

Thank you, that was very helpful. Here is an itemized list of what I have learned so far when it comes to Scuba diving:

1) For a sport that blabs on about "weightlessness", it sure is pretty damn heavy;
2) Holy frijoles Batman, this is expensive!

 

[justleesa]

Is a strobe absolutely necessary, or will I survive without one so long as the water is clear enough?

Aloha Janko,
Here are my 2¢. I have been taking pictures since last October and just got my strobe now. If you look in my gallery the only picture taken with the strobe is the shark picture.

How much camera knowledge and diving experience do you have? If you say not too much I would suggest you go for just the camera for a bit and then when you have the hang of that go for the strobe. Just remember, get close to your object. Depending on the strength of the internal strobe it could be enough.
Aloha,
Lisa

 

[seacam diver]

Dear Janko,
Since I am not sure what housing you have I can only assume it is the clear polycarbonate that Canon produces. If it is then the internal strobe light will need to be redirected. You can accomplish this with a Sea and Sea YS25, YS90 Auto or YS90DX. You can also use strobes by Ikelite and Sunpack. In most cases a fiber optic cord is attached using velcro. Prices run from a few hundred dollars US to almost a thousand. I would suggest the YS25 from Sea and Sea. It is fairly reasonable and is probably adaptable to your system.

Remember you have to crawl before you can walk and walk before you can run so don't think you need to take the best shots immediately. There is a long learning curve in the photo game. At least with digital you can shoot and dump the images you don't like and then make the corrections you need. Take a photo course and pick the brains of everyone who knows about the subject. Read, listen and learn, you may be another David Doubilet. Good luck...