Help New to photography under the wassa

otterinaround

Like usual... Otter went in BIG... and got the best he could.... or so I was told.

The camera is the canon 405s in a Hugyfot housing with some KING KONG MONKEY BIG Flash assemblies.
YES THERE ARE PICS!

Problem is my flash keeps drowning out the photos. Without the flash my pictures come out... tolerably well. I'm picky when it comes to lighting and can't figure out what is up with these big puppies. I have them set to TTL so they should be getting all the settings direct from the camera... UNLESS I'm missing something and I have to screw and adjust the flash before each dive. I can't quite figure out how to do it in the water and the way things are... I left the setting as they came shipped from the company.

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• Started as a free diver .Moved on to scuba and advanced at Penn State Uni. 1998.
• Took up Nitrox while I got evacuated from the War in Beirut Summer of 2005.
• Began training in tech, advanced Nitrox and Trimix/HELIOX summer 2007...
• Starting Rebreathing on an Optima....Ouroboros...whenever I find someone to buy my other kidney.

Johnny Christensen

The trick to succesfull flash photography, is using only the right amount. TTL in general will work reasonably well, when your photo object is centered and filling the majority of the frame.

If not, you will have to do manual control of the flash.In my experience, big and ultrabright flashguns, are made so the manufacture can make money in first selling you the one you want, then secondly selling you the smaller ones you need to do the job.

Underwater photo is not easy, but once you got it, it's a lot of fun. It's a bit like buying your first set of divegear, no matter what the salesman promises, it won't be the only one you ever buy.

Todays fancy cameras, most of the helpfull automatic modes typically screws up things underwater. You will do well to learn manual settings, then you can shoot in all conditions. My suggestion is to get hold of some of the many u/w photobooks that teach from the era of film-based photography. That gives you a solid foundation to build on. Then taking that knowledge and transfering it to CCD or CMOS based chips will be easy. A modern camera can do incredible stuff, but the man behind the lens still have to use the right settings to unlock it's full capability.

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www.johnnychristensen.com
Wreckphotography from the cold north

Marvintpa

First thing to check is if TTL really works with the combination of housing, camera and strobes that you're using. Most don't. Try a few shots on land, if everything works then you're good to go and try in the water.

Second, TTL works GREAT when you have subjects of average reflectance (not too bright, not too dark), that fill the entire frame. If you are shooting something dark adjustments in exposure compensation will have to be made (there are various ways to do that). Same for something bright, but since you say the shots are getting washed out by the strobe I'm guessing it's a darkness issue you're dealing with.

TTL does not work particularly well for wrecks, exteriors anyway. Interiors is different, TTL usually works great for average type shots and you don't have to screw with settings as much. Exteriors can be done in manual mode - just set the strobes to 1/4 power and take a few shots and see how you like them, adjust as necessary - you will likely find the results much more consistent.

One thing to keep in mind is to ensure your strobes are properly aimed. If the beams cross too close to the front of the camera you may be illuminating the suspecded particulate in the water and getting backscatter. Try to aim the strobes so they cross just BEHIND the subject, and the widening of the beams will cover the subject as well.

If you want to send me some examples of your shots to marvintpa at hotmail dot com I might be able to make some suggestions (been teaching U/W photography for a few years, hopefully I've picked up a thing or two).

As a test you can try this: pick a subject (something BIG), start swimming towards it, taking shots every foot until you're going to hit it. Check the results. If the strobes are adjusting automatically (TTL is functioning) then it's likely not the camera, just the shooting situation it can't handle. If there is one shot in the group that's perfect then you have a blueprint for distance and shot type that your current setup handles well. If there is no automatic adjustment of strobe output visible then your TTL is not working properly, and you can start troubleshooting that issue. Just a suggestion.

You can also try different metering modes. Example: if you are currently using matrix metering (whole frame) try adjusting it to center-weighted, or spot, and see if your results improve. Hey, it's digital, fire away, the cost is the same.

hawaiianharry

Aloha from Maui,

I have found that with very large lights, I have to not use the TTL most of the time. In the end, I have learned the setting by trial and error, but I generally only use the light at half or 1/4 power and adjust the camera to the lights.

As mentioned earlier, if your subject is in the middle and large, the TTL works well.

However, I don't know about you, but I generally don't have a lot of time to mess around. My subjects swim away to fast! I use the lower settings and can adjust the camera quicker when needed. Then use the TTL when on wrecks or sometimes works really well with macro...

Hope that helped

HawaiianHarry