Does it make sense to practice with strobes out of the water?

I wonder if it is worth practicing at home with the strobes.

I have a pair of new Retra pro but being locked up at home due to Covid I have not been able to test them in depth.

I understand that power will not be the same in air as in water, but I wonder if the effect of light would be similar.

What do you think about that?

Yes for macro to understand single vs double positioning and impact on shadows! I did that last WE

It just becomes very heavy and tiring to manipulate the strobe arms though.

3 hours ago, Joan Costa said:

I wonder if it is worth practicing at home with the strobes.

I have a pair of new Retra pro but being locked up at home due to Covid I have not been able to test them in depth.

I understand that power will not be the same in air as in water, but I wonder if the effect of light would be similar.

What do you think about that?

In these COVID times, anything that helps you stay sane is worth doing, Joan.

Darkened room, curtains drawn, one or two items on a bed or table to try out side-lighting, overhead lighting, one strobe, two strobes... Go for It!

The Retras are brilliant. I'm delighted with mine and have "invested" heavily: LSD, the new reflector.... all great stuff. 

Thank you for your answers.
I was worried that the angles of the light would be very different out of the water.

I got the new reflectors too, and I'm dying to try them. 

I use a plastic garden tub that I fill with water and practice in my garage - great for inward lighting and reduces the strain on your arms. It also helps me get a better "feel" for the rig.  Eliminates any concerns about overheating the strobes too.  

A paddling pool might work too if you want to try WA. 

Yes, and yes. Lighting is very well suited to practice, particularly macro lighting. What I tell all of the beginner photographers is to put your camera in the housing with the arms and strobes on and mount the whole thing on a tripod. Go to your garden, florist etc. and get a nice flower. Put it in a holder and set up your camera in front of it. Take lots of photos at various strobe positions (use your cell phone to take pics of the setup as you change it). Don't worry too much about hurting your strobes if you are only taking a few shots, just take them 30 seconds apart. This will get you familiar with the lighting but also the controls of your housing.

Cheers

bill

Thanks Bill!, yes, as it was said before, I guess the hardest thing is to keep the arms and strobes in the position you want. I'm not worried about hurting the strobes as I would shoot in quite a low power.,

I wish I had a pool or a large garage to be able to practice with water.

Cheers

You can try and find a couple of boxes of various sizes to support the weight of the strobes as well if you are doing it on land.