night dive photography

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ikan bilis

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how do you attach your dive lights when you want to take pictures during a night dive?

You need two hands for the camera, so where will your torch go then? ie you found a critter using your torch, you will need to put away your torch to use your camera then how do you know where you are focusing? unless you have someone who will help you hold the torch, i don't see any other way...maybe except mounting torches to your head like a miner's headlight.

pls share your tips ... cheers!
 
Some strobe set-ups have a modeling light attached but mine doesn't. So using two wide rubber bands, I attach a small Princeton™ light to the top of my strobe. This tells me where my strobe is pointing and I can use it to locate things in a pinch. I make sure not to use brand new batteries so the beam isn't too bright.

I have a Princeton Tec™ underwater headlight that I use for night dives. It's great! The head moves up and down so I can adjust it to avoid shining it in my buddies eyes when I look at him.

Another way is to have your buddy hold a dim light on the subject until you get focused then turn his light off. If his light or the spotting light on your strobe is too bright, it can cause a hot spot in your picture. Same for other divers in a group that rush over to 'help' you take a picture. All they're doing is ruining the shot, although that's the last thing they want to do. A dim light shows your subject but your strobe is brighter so no worry about hot spots.
 
ULCS has a lot of different adaptors for attaching modeling lights, strobes, etc., to your camera. I use the setup in the picture below for night or wreck diving, where I need a "primary" light attached to the camera. The light is attached directly to the camera with a ULCS clamp. You can do the same thing with your strobe arm.

For shallow, shore dives, I use a pair of Q-40 lights ( AA battery powered ) that attach in much the same fashion, but use a different adaptor.

tetra2.jpg



For more information, see Ultra Light Control Systems


I highly recommend their strobe arms as well.

Boydski
 
I have one of those small "man overboard" type lights. You know, the ones with a small flashlight on one end and a marker strobe on the other. The one I bought was a "flea market special", but rated to 300'. For five bucks, I thought "why not?".

It has about 100 dives on it without incident. I attach it to my strobe with the "arm straps" that came with it. It's a perfect fit and it works great as an aiming light, even when doing macro on day dives. It's not real powerful, which is nice, since you don't want it to overpower any part of the spectrum emitted by your strobe.

In clear water, I keep my primary light off and safely stowed away. I like diving with minimum amount of light anyway. In dirtier water, I simply "hang" my primary under the tray with the free fingers of my left hand. (my primary is a UK1200 with the lantern handle)

Even without the camera, I carry the marker strobe on night dives. I don't turn the strobe on U/W (a distress signal when at the surface and just plain annoying underwater.....plus the boats I dive on use strobes for the mooring pin and the down lines.)


Anyway, these little lights are available online at most dive websites and at West Marine or SailNet. They are usually 40 bucks (US) or less.


Hope this helps!

>
 
I have a small light that is attached to my mask strap. In this way I can see my subject but also the light shines when I look at my camera to adjust a setting.

It's a very small light(can't remember the name of it). It doesn't pull my mask strap down and can be turned on/off by rotating the cap.

It was inexpensive, too
 
Boydski, in your message above you did two things that I would like to ask about. First, placing the image in your reply, and second, creating a hyperlink out of text (as opposed to just putting the URL in the message).

As for the image, I guessed that it would the same as other boards:
(with link in between) However, when I tried this, it showed up only as a link, and the image did not appear. Is it possible that the file is too big, even though it is stored on a remote server, and not on scubaboard?

Thanks to anyone who can help.
 
tampascott once bubbled...
Boydski, in your message above you did two things that I would like to ask about. First, placing the image in your reply, and second, creating a hyperlink out of text (as opposed to just putting the URL in the message).

As for the image, I guessed that it would the same as other boards:
(with link in between) However, when I tried this, it showed up only as a link, and the image did not appear. Is it possible that the file is too big, even though it is stored on a remote server, and not on scubaboard?

Thanks to anyone who can help.

You can only post images here in the Photography Forum. And you're correct, if the image is stored online you use the IMG tags or the IMG button just under the smilies above. What you describe sounds like what happens when you try to put an image in a forum that doesn't support them.

In the other forums, you have to make an attachment. Look on the lower left of the posting page for 'Attach file:' It's restricted in size to 102400 bytes.

To add a hyperlink, under the smilies you'll see a 'http:' button. click it and enter the text you want to appear in your message. Hit OK and enter the URL you want to link it to.

HTH
 
Let me try this again ....

pugboat.jpg


You're right, it does only work in this section of the forum. Mystery solved!

Thanks for your help with the other issue, too.
 
Didn't UP mention something about tie-dye? :jester:

aac.sized.jpg
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/perdix-ai/

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