From: Ed
Newsgroups: alt.binaries.images.underwater
Subject: Re: Reefmaster UW Camera help
Date: Wed, 27 Oct 1999 07:52:15 -0400

Adam,

The answer to your problem is STROBE & DISTANCE-TO-SUBJECT.
As I am sure you know, colors quickly diminish as you dive deeper.
In order to get the color back, you must add light. I strobe will
help you immensely. HOWEVER, light from the strobe falls off VERY
QUICKLY with increased distance to your subject. Get as close as
possible in all cases; with or without a strobe. The strobe
designed for the reefmaster will only be effective for about 5 feet.
Additionally, ever without a strobe, if you get within a couple of
feet of your subject you will see a SLIGHT improvement in color.
Hope this helps.
Attached are two shots as an example. The one of the turtle
was taken with a Sea & Sea YS-300 strobe (fairly powerful unit and
much more powerful than the Reefmaster unit) from about 10 feet away.
Note the lack of color; too far away. The shot of the tube sponges
was taken with a 20mm wide angle lens with the same strobe from about
3 feet away. Note the amount of color in that shot.

Ed


Adam wrote:
>
> I am new to UW photography. I have Reefmaster CL. The pictures I
> take are "green", dark and not very colorful. I recently purchased a
> Macro 3x Close-Up lens (have not used yet) and had my eye on an
> external strobe. Attached is a pic of a turtle I took at about 50' in
> Grand Cayman. What I want to know is will the external strobe make a
> world of difference? I am not looking for award winning photos, just
> something I can maybe enlarge and hang on my wall and be proud of..
> Any help?
>
> Thanks,
> -Adam
>
> --
> Web Page
> http://www.geocities.com/barefootadam/
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> [Image]

--
For anyone having interest, have a look at our trip
reports and pictures of St. Lucia and Bonaire 1999 at:
http://colormetan.com/eds_scuba_page.htm
We hope these reports and pictures are enjoyably and helpful!

filename="Hawksbill_Turtle3.jpg"
filename="Yellow_Tube_Sponge1.jpg"