First time out with strobe

Here are my first few shots with my external strobe. It's given me a lot to think about and I'm feeling like I am right at the bottom of the learning curve..

Any help, tips and suggestions are welcome.

First leason learnt was to go out with charged strobe battries

Slide show

Yeah - it really is a good idea to charge the batteries before the dive!

As for You'r shots, I think they are quite good for first try!

I would try to shoot more upward angle (specially shots 3 and 5 are not the best IMHO because of the "birdeye view")

Allso I would prefer a blue backround of the water column for negative space on shot 1 and maybe some amount for shot 4 as well. Allso the first shot does not seem to have any extra light from the flash - looks like it's all natural light there..?! Alltough it's a very nice portrate

I like the second one, but I would do a little tighter crop on it or try to reshoot it closer.

Well done!!!

Just my 2 cents

Cheers

Karel

You didn't light up any water tween your camera and your subject. Always the first goal with an external strobe. I would say try to get closer to your subject. Don't move towards or chase animals. They always turn away at the last second. Let them come to you.

I would try to shoot more upward angle (specially shots 3 and 5 are not the best IMHO because of the "birdeye view")

3 & 5 were while drifting along an almost vertical wall. Would you still try and shoot up on a coral wall or is it better to try to get closer to the wall and shoot along it?

Allso I would prefer a blue backround of the water column for negative space on shot 1 and maybe some amount for shot 4 as well. Allso the first shot does not seem to have any extra light from the flash - looks like it's all natural light there..?! Alltough it's a very nice portrate

The first was with natural light as it was from the dive with dead batteries. It had the best dive to the trip too.. It was the only time we saw leopard and eagle rays as well as the turtle, but the pics didn't come out very well at all . I have some with a blue background, but with the natural light it got quite grainy. It was the last dive of the day and the light was starting to go.

I like the second one, but I would do a little tighter crop on it or try to reshoot it closer.

This was the shot after the 2nd

Thanks for the comments