Wide Angle

Greetings all

I'm trying to improve my wide angle shots which is a whole lot harder than I thought. Any help will be much appreciated. These were taken @ Seven mile, Sodwana, South Africa.

Thanks

Paul

Motor Marine II Ex

16mm lens

60 and 90 YS strobes

Another one

Hello Paul,

I like the image you posted. Good exposure, vertical composition is correct for your primary subject and it has depth. In terms of advice for capturing better wide angle imagery, my first suggestion is to gain a better understanding of your camera system.

The meter in the Motor Marine II EX is practically useless. If you are determined to continue using the camera for the foreseeable future, I highly recommend that you purchase a used (experienced) Sekonic Marine Meter II and attach it either to the base of the tray or one of the strobe arms. The meter is easy to use and reliable. Since you can normally find a used one for approximately $100 US, I would not go to the added expense of buying a digital meter.

Next, if you are not already diligent about keeping the 16mm lens and camera lens surfaces free of bubbles and debris, its time to get paranoid and become a clean freak. Bubbles and other nasties can accumulate on the surfaces and wreck havoc with sharpness.

Thirdly, shoot when the sun is at its highest point if possible (10:00 am to 2:00 pm on average). This will allow you to use higher numbered f-stops to achieve greater depth of field. Also, shoot up or at worst straight ahead. Shooting up allows you to separate your subjects from the water column and improving the available light.

Fourthly, be conscious at all times of your strobe positioning. Never, never, never simply light up the water column, especially if your subject is more than 5 feet away or positioned where only one strobe can illuminate it without crossing your camera to subject path (either reposition the other strobe or turn it off). Try not to allow your strobe to light the blue water between your camera and the subject. If you can concentrate on only allowing the inner beams of your strobes to paint the subject with light, you will keep backscatter to a minimum. I suggest pointing your strobes straight ahead and positioning them out to each side of the camera about 30" for horizontal shots. For verticals, positioning is more tricky. Again, you do not want to simply light up blue water. It may mean that both strobes are on the subject dominate side of the camera. Or, you may turn one strobe off.

The last two items on the list are silhouettes and film. Turn your strobes off for silhouettes even if you are extremely excited and do not think you have time. And, in terms of film, Fuji Provia 100F and Velvia are good choices. Of course, there are other quality options. But, when you start getting good results with a brand, try to stick with it and get to know its limitations. Scala 200, a b/w slide film, is also something I keep on hand when shooting wrecks, large creatures and certain schools.

I hope there is something you can use in the above advice. I apologize if you find any of it too basic. However, not knowing your skill level, I thought I would just write off the top of my head as if you were one of my students.

Take Care,

Scott

Paul,

I forgot to mention one thing about metering. Be sure to meter your background, for example, the blue water, then set your camera according. The strobes will then add fill light for a balanced shot. Your distance to the subject, f-stop, visibility and strobe positioning must be considered in determining the correct amount of fill.

TTL is often useful, but can easily be tricked when you are shooting into the sun or a subject that is either highly reflective (Bigeye jack) or a light eater (sea lions). It is good to understand TTL's strengths and weaknesses.

Scott

Thanx for the help Scott I really appreciate your comments. Another question for you. If you look at this image and please forget about the composition, would you suggest that I should not have used my strobes or are they positioned wrong. In this shot I had them both out to the side.

Thanx

Paul

Hello Paul,

When you state that you "had them both out to the side", does that mean you had one strobe on each side of the camera? If so, the strobe on the right side either did not fire or was aimed way out (at least 90 degrees away from from desired subject) or straight up. My best guess is that it did not fire.

You did a very good job with the background exposure and the left strobe. It properly exposed the left half of the hole, without adding backscatter in the center of the frame. And yes, I would have:

* left my strobes on

* positioned them out to the side, about four inches above the lens plane

* pointed them straight ahead or slightly out, depending on the lens

* then, composed and fired

If I were using a model, I would have had her swimming a little further away from the rock, so that her entire body would have been in view. After asking her to swim by numerous times with the strobe on shots, I would have turned them off and tried a few silhouettes with her (depending on the position of the sun). Lastly, I would have asked her to come close to the rock, position her face in the center of the hole and then take strobe on shots while she looked up at the top of the hole and then more shots while she looked at the bottom of it.

Hope this helps.

Scott