Question We all know it's all about the light, but ...

[Hoag]

I was thinking about lighting recently, and in particular the effectiveness of strobes.

Specifically, someone reached out to me about the possibility of going to Socorro in the fall of 2025. I have only been to Socorro once, and as I recall, the life there was big and tended to stay fairly far away. I have always believed that the effective reach of strobes is "about an arm's length" Anything beyond that, and you would lose so much of the light traveling from the strobe to the subject and back the the camera that the effect of strobes becomes minimal at best. (Yes, I am aware that this is a rule of thumb and not an absolute.)

So, here is my question:
For a trip to Socorro, would you bring strobes and if so, would you mount them for every dive "just in case" something comes close or would you count on using ambient light knowing that the subject you are photographing will be too far away for strobes to be effective?

For context, I have a pair of Inon S2000 strobes so they are not the most powerful to begin with.

 

[PatW]

Oh my.

The rule of thumb that I have heard is about 5’ effective range. In practice, it is a tad farther. …. About 7’ but it gets progressively weaker.

Remember, strobes have 2 functions: adding light for exposure an adding light for ligh quality - i.e. color replacement.

Color replacement is adding the war colors back into the spectrum like red, orange, and yellow. The thing is that the color from your strobes are absorbed just like those of the sun. Red light is absorbed after it goes through 15’ of water. So all of your red light is gone at 15’. Your strobes cannot add red light past 8’ to the target. The strobe’s light has to pass through 16’ to there and back so it is going to be gone.

This is why you often see the background of your photos being blue. At distance, all the light from far away objects is blue. It is also why people who photo large objects at distance like wrecks and whales often go with black and white.

You might look into color filters, They are suppose to replace warm colors. I do not know if they work at distance. I have not used them but they might serve you well. You could call one of the really good underwater photography retailers and ask about it. I would suggest Reef Photo and Video in Fort Lauderdale (because I know them and have done extensive business with them or Backscatter.

 

[David Haas]

I've used nothing but Inon S2000 and recently (last 8 months) slightly more powerful and easier to control Inon S220 units. I have a compact system and don't want anything bigger.

Socorro you may get close passes of mantas and dolphins and even sharks. Strobe(s) may not add color you POSSIBLY could bring back in post processing. But generally unless the creature is 5' or closer as you initially said, uh uh........

After decades of shooting I can tell you filters can help ambient shooting but only down to 33' or so in bright conditions for best results. Going without strobe(s) you don't have to wait for recycle and that adds +1 to that decision column.

The last 8 months to a year I've used one strobe mounted in my compact housing's cold shoe. I can take it on each dive to use or not. In Maldives Feb. 2024 while hooked in at 90' for limited time waiting for sharks to come close I didn't use the strobe.

3 hours later on a manta dive in 40' of water I turned it when the mantas hovered 2' away looking you over

So my point is "it depends".......

Some dives at Socorro will have current. If pushing a large double strobe rig it may be more trouble than it's worth

The last thing I can tell you if you're an Apple iPhone user (currently only available for that) an App called SeaReal can do magic. It's the only App I've used to bring color back to ambient pics of sharks, reef fish and even whales.

If you're a Mac computer user you can AirDrop color adjusted files to your phone then back to a computer after bringing back color Then further edit in any program.

Good luck and be ready for Big Boy / Big Girl diving in Socorro!

David Haas

 

[Hoag]

I've used nothing but Inon S2000 and recently (last 8 months) slightly more powerful and easier to control Inon S220 units. I have a compact system and don't want anything bigger.

Socorro you may get close passes of mantas and dolphins and even sharks. Strobe(s) may not add color you POSSIBLY could bring back in post processing. But generally unless the creature is 5' or closer as you initially said, uh uh........

After decades of shooting I can tell you filters can help ambient shooting but only down to 33' or so in bright conditions for best results. Going without strobe(s) you don't have to wait for recycle and that adds +1 to that decision column.

The last 8 months to a year I've used one strobe mounted in my compact housing's cold shoe. I can take it on each dive to use or not. In Maldives Feb. 2024 while hooked in at 90' for limited time waiting for sharks to come close I didn't use the strobe.

3 hours later on a manta dive in 40' of water I turned it when the mantas hovered 2' away looking you over

So my point is "it depends".......

Some dives at Socorro will have current. If pushing a large double strobe rig it may be more trouble than it's worth

The last thing I can tell you if you're an Apple iPhone user (currently only available for that) an App called SeaReal can do magic. It's the only App I've used to bring color back to ambient pics of sharks, reef fish and even whales.

If you're a Mac computer user you can AirDrop color adjusted files to your phone then back to a computer after bringing back color Then further edit in any program.

Good luck and be ready for Big Boy / Big Girl diving in Socorro!

David Haas

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David, Thank you. Based on what you said, it sounds like maybe I should take them with me and dive with them. That way, if I need them, I'll have them and if I don't need them then no big deal.

I have been to Socorro once before (several years ago) and I loved it. The highlight was rolling off the Zodiac on morning right into the middle of a school of Hammerheads. We all figured we might as well just head back to Cabo because there is no way we were ever going to top that, but on the first dive of the afternoon, we rolled off the Zodiac and at about 30feet was a very friendly Whale Shark who followed us around for the whole dive & then followed the Zodiac back to the main boat and "hung out" there for a little while. It was an amazing day!