Macro single strobe technique?

I work on a dive boat and we have a professional photographer that goes out with us on most dives. I'm just getting into underwater photography and I've been looking to him for advice.

Yesterday I noticed for the for time that when he is shooting macro and general pics of customers he doesn't use any arms on his rig. He has the strobe attached to the housing via an analog cable and he swims with the strobe in one hand and the housing in the other.  This sorta blew me away as I shoot a lot of macro and sometimes I have issue figuring out strobe position when shooting nudis very close up, or just issues getting the strobes close enough in the tight spaces where I find the nudis.

Is this a pretty common technique? I asked if he uses a leash between the housing and strobe and he said no. I'd be worried about dropping one part of the system and the cable breaking.

Any thoughts on this? I thought it was pretty interesting, but I'm so new to underwater photography that almost everything is pretty interesting to me.

Sounds an unusual technique but, hey, if it works for him......

I must admit I always have my strobes attached to the housing via arms for 90% of macro shots - maybe taking a strobe off to set it on the sand for eg a snoot shot. It's rare that by ones means or another I can't get to the position I want as the arms are in the way. Juggling a separate strobe is just one more bit of task loading and I'd rather not have both hands full all the time during a dive. 

As for a leash whether on the housing or on a strobe or both, very much a personal preference thing. A lot of people like to use a leash (I'm one of them: on the housing); some don't. 

Hi,
some strobe arms have a quick release build in, so you can do both:
arm mounted or free hand...
Sometimes its hard to adjust an arm exact how you want it, and then free hand is a possible solution.

As tim mentioned, if you want back light, thats another situation, where a free strobe is needed.

I have taken a seperate strobe with me,  in the caves in Tulum, mexico.
Only lay it on the floor with a small tray from strobe arms to adjust it, so the cave pics get more 3d light...

Regards,
Wolfgang

Take a look at Richard Salas's work. He often uses only a single strobe but I think it is always attached to the housing.

Holding it in your hand seems strange and a bit risky if a dive situation happens. 

Bill

I know of at least one other UW-Photographer that does this. I've considered this myself, but would definitely want a quick release so that I can have my hands free if I want to (camera is leashed). I can definitely see the advantages, but there are also some drawbacks.

One thing to keep in mind, is that your buoyancy needs to be impeccable because you can't use a muck stick. Same needs to be true for the housing, because operating it with one hand would be very annoying if it is not neutral. 

I learned a lot from Richard Salas, and his #1 mantra is "Long Arms". Having long reach means that you can get a strobe behind your subject and back or side light it easily for more dramatic effect.  I pretty much use the same set up for both Macro and Wide angle, and the long arms have big advantages for both styles of shooting.

My current setup is 16" + 12" + 8" on the left and 16" + 12" on the right.  

I can see why he might want to do it and the results my well be good, but I see several problems.  First getting repeated shots with same lighting angle, changing settings on your strobe or camera, adding or removing air from your BCD  popping an SMB etc., if both hands are occupied.  You can clip camera or strobe off of course, but so much easier if it's a single package.  I certainly woudn't like to leave the strobe hanging from the cable.