Wide-Angle Underwater Photography with One Strobe

Recently I was charging the batteries from one of my strobes in-between dives. I forgot to put the batteries back in, so underwater I soon realized that I was only shooting with one strobe!

Well I figured, let's turn this into a learning opportunity, play around with strobe positions, and create some wide-angle photos with just one strobe. I had my Tokina 10-17mm fisheye lens on. I was diving at Anacapa Island in the Northern Channel Islands in Southern California.

Visibility wasn't great, maybe 10 meters, but it wasn't bad for the area.

Here's what I took on that dive:

F7, 1/200th, ISO 400. Red sea fans

Red Sea fan with diver

F10, 1/160th, ISO 500. Rarely seen Gurney's Sea pen, and my dive buddy. The dome port is almost touching the sea pen.

F7, 1/160th, ISO 500. 2 meter long giant black sea bass, fleeing the scene. Unless they are in a mating/cleaning area, most black sea bass are quite skittish.

F9, 1/160th, ISO 500. Behavior shot. Large 1.5 meter Halibut taking off from the sand.

I was pretty happy with the lighting that I got with one strobe.

Strobe position for wide-angle with one strobe

Underwater photo tips for using one strobe

• Use your diffuser

• Don't point the strobe right at the subject, point it straight ahead

• The further away the subject, the further the strobe should be from the housing

• Shoot wide, get close!

Further Reading

• Shooting with a Single Strobe