f3nikon
Guest
I’ll answer the rest of your last post on the your thread that was closed, thanks for the answering in the first place. This statement is more important and I am not going to fault you for being incorrect.
“Now, let's talk about that "golden rule of underwater photography." Nope, you don't want to get closer and closer still just to minimize backscatter. Yes, less water between you and the subject can help with that, but proper strobe positioning is the real key there. The reason to get closer is for color. Built-in strobe on a P&S, one strobe or two, the closer you are, the better job you can do in lighting it.”
Because I am not sure if you had consulted with that forum on this or not but I suspect they are pretty much clueless when it comes to technical issues anyway.
Getting the camera closer to the subject is the only factual way to reduce or minimize backscatter.
Backscatter is physical matter, an actual obstacle(s) in the form of small particles between the camera and the subject, depending on the clarity of the water.
As an example, if 3000 particles were present between a camera to subject distance of 3ft and you turn off the strobe…
Just because you did not illuminate or light up the backscatter does not mean the particles went away. The particles are still present “obstructing” or deflecting the ambient light that is reflecting off the subject, on its way to the camera’s lens and finally ending up at the sensor. This is what is causing the fuzziness or out of focus images.
First the camera’s auto focusing is a bit confused (another reason to shoot close) because it does not know if the backscatter or the subject should be in focus! Next since some of the reflected light information coming from the subject is deflected or stopped, the image will not come out as sharp.
“Proper strobe positioning” is only masking or smoke-screening the real issue because you can change the strobe angle or distances till you are blue in the face, those 3000 particles will still be in the way, even if you illuminate only the subject, light still has to come back to the camera lense via the backscatter, unless you…
move the camera closer to the subject to cut down on the distance, therefore reducing the amount of backscatter.
“Now, let's talk about that "golden rule of underwater photography." Nope, you don't want to get closer and closer still just to minimize backscatter. Yes, less water between you and the subject can help with that, but proper strobe positioning is the real key there. The reason to get closer is for color. Built-in strobe on a P&S, one strobe or two, the closer you are, the better job you can do in lighting it.”
Because I am not sure if you had consulted with that forum on this or not but I suspect they are pretty much clueless when it comes to technical issues anyway.
Getting the camera closer to the subject is the only factual way to reduce or minimize backscatter.
Backscatter is physical matter, an actual obstacle(s) in the form of small particles between the camera and the subject, depending on the clarity of the water.
As an example, if 3000 particles were present between a camera to subject distance of 3ft and you turn off the strobe…
Just because you did not illuminate or light up the backscatter does not mean the particles went away. The particles are still present “obstructing” or deflecting the ambient light that is reflecting off the subject, on its way to the camera’s lens and finally ending up at the sensor. This is what is causing the fuzziness or out of focus images.
First the camera’s auto focusing is a bit confused (another reason to shoot close) because it does not know if the backscatter or the subject should be in focus! Next since some of the reflected light information coming from the subject is deflected or stopped, the image will not come out as sharp.
“Proper strobe positioning” is only masking or smoke-screening the real issue because you can change the strobe angle or distances till you are blue in the face, those 3000 particles will still be in the way, even if you illuminate only the subject, light still has to come back to the camera lense via the backscatter, unless you…
move the camera closer to the subject to cut down on the distance, therefore reducing the amount of backscatter.
