Strobes Light Quality

[fruehaufsteher2]

I believe that when assessing the quality of light, you shouldn't focus so much on the technical specifications of the flash units, but rather think about what the light from the flash unit should actually achieve. You can use photography above the surface of the water as an easy guide.
The subject should be illuminated and glow. This is possible with any flash tube, and also straight ahead from the front - you wouldn't even need flash arms.

But our viewing habits expect the light to come from above, evenly from a large light source. This also means that we have smaller differences in brightness on the subject and can assess details better. This is easier with round flash tubes. Photography above water therefore also likes to use softboxes, which would be somewhat unwieldy in water.

 

I'm so happy with my Pro Max! 🙂

[Adventurer]

On 11/10/2024 at 8:42 PM, bvanant said:

 

I hear the term "quality of light" all the time with particular emphasis on "wide beam" and "good color temperature".

 

classic terms in photography is quality and quantity of light, not really including the color temperature.

 

The quantity is referring to light output, but that can be also very concentrated on a single spot. The most extreme example would be a laser pointer.

 

Quality of light refers to the distribution of that power. Hence you can imagine it‘s less in important in macro photography than wide angle.

 

All underwater strobes today and even many torches have enough quality of light for underwater macro scenes. But as many don’t have enough quality of light for large wide angle scenes it likely you buy a second strobe or two new strobes once get into serious underwater wide angle photography.

 

Dr. Alex compared it to the jam on your toast. You want it evenly spread and not all in one corner of the bread 😉