Flash for pelagics?

Hi all,

I'm a land-based professional photographer specializing in nature, birds, etc. I might be hired by a sport fishing magazine and will then want to do some underwater photography and I'm considering equipment now to have an idea of how much I will spend (and how much I will ask from them ). Besides a photographer I have always been a fisherman and free diver, so I'm pretty comfortable there. I basically need some help on the technical side.

Most of my underwater photography will be of pelagic fish like tuna, dorado, billfish, jacks, etc near the surface. I will photograph them hooked, which should be pretty easy, and also will try to follow some after release. On rare occasions I might try to photograph a baitball or something like that. I assume I need a flash to bring some of the color back, but which kind? I will probably be photographing with a Nikon D700 or D300 on an Ikelite housing, mostly with wide-angles. Is the Ikelite DS-51 strobe good enough for this? And what else do I need... cables, arms, domes? If I go with the D700 I will probably use the Nikkor 16mm f/2.8D the most.

Thanks

looks like you've not got any advice so far so i'll chime in. where to start.....

first off the 16mm FE will be too wide on a D700 for what you want to shoot. do you anticipate getting within 1 foot of these fish to have them remotely significant in the frame? i guess potentially if you're shooting them hooked. I would suggest a wide zoom though. something like the 17-35mm/D700 or 12-24mm/D300. I usually use a midrange zoom (17-55mm/D200) when shooting pelagic fish, but i'm doing it naturally, well, chummed up, but not hooked.

you will need a domeport for whatever wide lens you choose and possibly an extension ring, zoom gear, diopter. check ikelite's website for the apropriate recommendations. The DS-51 flash will likely not be enough, its quite weak i believe, suited for macro work. usually with superwides you need 2 strobes for full frame coverage, even if one has wide enough coverage, pointing it straight at ur subject you will get hoards of backscatter in all but crystal clear waters. if you do shoot strobe/s you will need arms (suprisingly $$) and synch cables. even for a pro, learning to balance strobe and ambient UW is surprisingly difficult and takes plenty of practice. so....

your best bet may be shooting ambient light with filters, especially if you're shooting in clear, shallow, sunny conditions. look up Magic Filters on this forum or the web for details. Also since pelagics, especially hooked ones, move very fast, keeping to a 1/250th strobe synch speed may be too slow to freeze the action. if you go this route, house the D700 as you can boost the ISO comfortably to keep up a fast SS and decent aperture.

you can see these skipjack tuna were too fast for my strobe synch, though i like the bit of blur, gives an idea of their amazing speed:

D200, 17-55mm at 17, 2 strobes, 1/250th f/9

cheers,

chris

Another pointer is if you do decide to use strobes, such as ikelite ds 125s or ds 160s try to use the plastic diffusers that come with them. As most pelagic fish tend to have very reflective skin, the diffusers will help to even the light and prevent harsh reflections off of a fish's skin. The diffusers also allow for a slightly larger angle of coverage - though you will lose 1 stop of flash light with the diffusers on...

cheers!

- MDP

Another tip - if you are diving in waters that are anywhere near like my local waters - watch out also for what is following the hooked fish towards the boat - they usually have big smiles, lots of teeth and stripes down the sides

Another tip - if you are diving in waters that are anywhere near like my local waters - watch out also for what is following the hooked fish towards the boat - they usually have big smiles, lots of teeth and stripes down the sides

indeed... forgot to mention that one. this curious fellow showed up shortly after i took that skipjack tuna photo i posted above:

sorry for the abnoxious copyright, but i think decent shark photos are high risk for internet theft. cheers,

chris