I am new to underwater photography but I am wanting to achieve some of my studio lighting techniques underwater. Specifically i am wanting to trigger my studio strobes from under water. Now before anyone freakes out and think i am wanting to put my studio gear in the water, as cool as that may be, i dont really want to kill myself. I am wanting to trigger my studio gear wiich is above the water from beneath the water. This setup would specifically be when shooting in a swimming pool. Is there a trigger system out there that will fire the triggers using a radio frequency or something similar.
I know that this is a complex setup and any help is appreciated.
That's what most people do - there are a few vendors that sell housings for the pocket wizard too.
Cheers
James
I've heard rumours of acoustic triggers in development...
like ultrasound? ... everytime a whale swims bye and says hello will the strobes go off ?
the limited pool fashion stuff i've done involved connecting 1 of my 2 on camera strobes to a float (tied to stay in place above me, longer sync cable) aimed at my topside strobes, triggering optically. actually worked very well and reliably. the 2nd on camera strobe was used for fill. not the fanciest or prettiest of setups, but good enough that i'll do it again next time. setting up housed hard wired PW's would be too expensive unless i shot this stuff a lot. i use Radiopoppers for topside triggering and can't hardwire those.
would be cool if my RP's could be housed and used UW, but i'm pretty sure radio signals don't work UW... am i right??
now acoustic triggers, that could be cool. how bout setting a frequency to ask the whales to come by and say hello? and another for dolphins....
chris
I use the method described by Dan with a long Nikonos cord connected via a pc convertor to a Pocket Wizard on a stand on the deck. I found it to be more reliable than optical slaves, particularly in bright sunlight. I started out using a floating housing but dispensed with it as my cord is long enough for me to move around the pool and keep the Pocket Wizard in one place. Remember those sandbags etc on your studio strobe stands.
Thanks for the reply. This is a new area for me, I think that it is going to be a long cable to PW above the water. I conjunction wit triggering are there any modifiers for underwater strobes, like beauty dish?
Well there's diffusers. And snoots.
Yes, I have some softboxes I have adapted to my SS200 strobes. I also use umbrellas on the strobes. You should probably make a beauty dish by using a large tupperware bowl and spraypainting it silver or filling w/ aluminum foil.
Cheers
James
Regarding Pocket Wizard what kind of cable are used from the underwater camera housing to the pocket wizard on the float & also what housing is used for the pocket wizard + where is it possible to get all this stuff ?
I dont get what a pc converter is and how its connected?
Another question if anyone knows, about subal strobe cases for the canon & nikon speedlites/lights is it possible to slave them while in the underwater cases?
All this stuff is a little bit confusing for me just reading it please let me know if I got it wrong in any way.
