What strobes did I use?

There is always much debate and uncertainty about lighting 180 degree fisheye shots. Close focus wide angle is pretty easy to light, but larger scenics and wreck shots can be much more tricky.

So I thought I'd post a couple of photos I took on Wednesday. And ask the question what strobes or strobe did I use to light these fisheye shots - taken with the D80 + 10-17mm (at 10mm) - on the World War II wreck of the KT12 in Sardinia between 26m and 30m in the Mediterranean?

Deck gun:

Wreck internals

This isn't really a quiz. And I am sure that you've guessed from the fact that I have posed the question, that the answer must be unusual.

The strobe I used was a single Sea and Sea YS30. This is a very small weak strobe. There are few strobes that are less powerful. Although these images are not perfect, I felt that they show what can be achieved.

Alex

p.s. The reason I was using this setup was because I did not know whether I would have the chance to dive on this trip - so I couldn't take much camera kit.

Good stuff Alex! I love posts like this.

I suppose if you get reasonably close and shoot at a low f-stop one small strobe is just fine. I bet the Subal w/ a small dome and one small strobe is a great compact package.

Sarah recently returned from a trip to Stetson Bank where she got a chance to do 3 dives (amidst a lot of research). So I set her up w/ a simple camera setup as well - 17mm lens and one big strobe. She learned a lot about strobe aiming on this trip and by the end got some great photos.

I can post one of her photos as an example, but don't want to hi-jack you thread. Do you mind?

Cheers

James

Good samples.

I used the YS-25 for some time with my P&S camera and It's was quit good and with some surprising results also when using the Inon 105 AD that gives 105 degrees.

I still think that especially for small P&S cameras its one of the best options because of his size.