Ambient light
Before each dive I go through a checklist to ensure my underwater rig is working properly - did I take the lens cap off, is the autofocus switch properly set on the lens, are the o-rings clean, is the battery sufficiently charged, etcetera. But on this dive, I failed to check everything ... the switch on the strobe trigger was not turned on. Above water this error takes just a moment to correct. The only solution underwater is to end the dive.
And of course, we find a frogfish. So I did a custom white balance on my white fins and took the shot. (Maybe not needed because the WB could be adjusted in post, but I figure I would try it out.) Much to my pleasant surprise, the image isn't dominated by blue (which usually happens underwater). Amazingly, what little red was down there was still captured by the camera. And, the look of the image is different than one taken with strobes.
So I learned something - maybe sometimes I should experiment to see what can be done without strobes. Always using strobes might get in the way of some creativity.
This orange frogfish is about 6cm long. I returned several weeks later (with strobes working) and it had doubled in size.
It's home is an elephant ear sponge (Agelas clathrodes). They are estimated to live up to 2,000 years. So in this image, the sponge is probably the more interesting living creature!
Ambient light
Before each dive I go through a checklist to ensure my underwater rig is working properly - did I take the lens cap off, is the autofocus switch properly set on the lens, are the o-rings clean, is the battery sufficiently charged, etcetera. But on this dive, I failed to check everything ... the switch on the strobe trigger was not turned on. Above water this error takes just a moment to correct. The only solution underwater is to end the dive.
And of course, we find a frogfish. So I did a custom white balance on my white fins and took the shot. (Maybe not needed because the WB could be adjusted in post, but I figure I would try it out.) Much to my pleasant surprise, the image isn't dominated by blue (which usually happens underwater). Amazingly, what little red was down there was still captured by the camera. And, the look of the image is different than one taken with strobes.
So I learned something - maybe sometimes I should experiment to see what can be done without strobes. Always using strobes might get in the way of some creativity.
This orange frogfish is about 6cm long. I returned several weeks later (with strobes working) and it had doubled in size.
It's home is an elephant ear sponge (Agelas clathrodes). They are estimated to live up to 2,000 years. So in this image, the sponge is probably the more interesting living creature!