Amazing Orca Light

I just did a short cave dive ( faced some problems with my gear ) and managed to do some shots using only the light of an Orca Light prototype ( 20,000 lumens ) . I was blown away by the power and angle of coverage . I think that the potencial of that light for cave photography is amazing .

Attached some examples .

Nice. Are you in Mexico?

What are your camera settings for these shots? How easy did you find it to communicate with your buddy, given the difference between your primary light and the light they are carrying?

Nice. Are you in Mexico?

 

What are your camera settings for these shots? How easy did you find it to communicate with your buddy, given the difference between your primary light and the light they are carrying?

Hi , i'm in Dominican Republic . We have plenty of nice caves here .

We used only the light that my buddy is carrying , since is a continuos light i found way more easy to compose the photo than using a remote slave . Of course we plan the shots in advance , we know the cave very well and we have been photographing caves together since long time ;so it makes communication among us more easy .

I'm using a Nikon D7000 w/ Tokina 10-17mm ,settings were iso 250 , exposure ranged between f/7.1 to f/10 @ 1/8 to 1/15 . Next time i will increase the iso to 400 in order to use a higher speed and make some changes in the light to subject distance .

Fabulous shots. And the apertures are small enough that everything is crisp.

Ideally you would want a speed of 1/30th to avoid shake if handheld but you could also put a tripod down considering you are in a cave and keep a lower ISO?

How easy did you find it to communicate with your buddy, given the difference between your primary light and the light they are carrying?

Sorry i realised i missed the meaning of your question !

With sounds. I bang my tank , different times different meanings . Some times if we are far from each other it doesn't work but it helps that my buddy is using a rebreather so he doesn't have exhaust bubbles' noise interfering . For example 1 bang -hold actual position for a shot , 2 bangs - i finish this shoot , 3 bangs- look at me . Also i use a dual dive alert on u/w mode the same way.

Fabulous shots. And the apertures are small enough that everything is crisp.

 

Ideally you would want a speed of 1/30th to avoid shake if handheld but you could also put a tripod down considering you are in a cave and keep a lower ISO?

Glad you liked .

Yes that speed ( as minimum ) will be my aim for next sessions . I carried a tripod but not easy to use and sometimes quite impossible due to the irregular configuration of the cave's floor ,because the tripod i use have a fixed legs length .

At 10mm you will be looking at 1/30 at 17 1/50. I think 1/30 is a good start and should make the pictures even crisper. There is no fish in there I see no reason for faster shutter speeds

Interesting, I haven't tried using tank banging. I find light signals really difficult with video lights as they are so diffuse and it makes it harder to catch my buddy's attention.

For settings I would probably bump the ISO a bit to increase the shutter speed. In your second shot you have a little blurriness around the knees of the diver presumably from movement. I would have guessed you were already at 1/30 though, so good job on keeping things steady.

Tripods are a pain in the butt as they cause silt, and are also not great for cave conservation. I bet you could get some interesting long exposure effects by painting in large chambers or features though. It would be much easier with constant light than setting off a single flash multiple times (which I have tried). Now all you need is a second light for on camera and a third light for your second buddy, and maybe one more for just in case....

...but you could also put a tripod down considering you are in a cave and keep a lower ISO?

For cave conservation it's good to be aware that tripods can scar silt floors, leaving permanent prong marks. It can be very tricky finding an appropriate place to set a tripod down.

Interesting, I haven't tried using tank banging. I find light signals really difficult with video lights as they are so diffuse and it makes it harder to catch my buddy's attention.

 

For settings I would probably bump the ISO a bit to increase the shutter speed. In your second shot you have a little blurriness around the knees of the diver presumably from movement. I would have guessed you were already at 1/30 though, so good job on keeping things steady.

 

Tripods are a pain in the butt as they cause silt, and are also not great for cave conservation. I bet you could get some interesting long exposure effects by painting in large chambers or features though. It would be much easier with constant light than setting off a single flash multiple times (which I have tried). Now all you need is a second light for on camera and a third light for your second buddy, and maybe one more for just in case....

Yes, for sure i will increase the iso next time . I think i will go with iso 400 . That second shot was at 1/13 s .

As for the tripod i only used on places that it doesn't make any damage , next time i will use a small one that i have that is basically 3 tlc 11" arms ,it's easier to handle . Regarding a second light on camera i prefer to use the 2 strobes mounted in my housing if i want to lit the foreground at the end of the exposure.

The pic below was made using a tripod with a 4 seconds exposure which doesn't work because my buddy moved ( due to some problem with his gear ) and also he left the light too much time at the same spot ( in front/below him ) and burned that area .

Cool. I look forward to seeing more of your shots.

It doesn't seem to be a very even light with multiple rings of varied brightness before it goes to a central hotspot. I had always thought these lights were pretty even form what I had seen online.

It doesn't seem to be a very even light with multiple rings of varied brightness before it goes to a central hotspot. I had always thought these lights were pretty even form what I had seen online.

Yes , you are right . That light was a prototype ( the shoot was in 2014 ) , they corrected the problem and the actual models have an even flood light .