- When should you use Strobe Lights?
- Why shoot macro on low power?
- What kind of "set-up" should I buy?
- Why shoot with film when it's a digital world?
- How do I get my film converted to digital?
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When should you use Strobe Lights?
Use strobe lights – 98% of the time. I do. Never have more light than you need to avoid over-exposing your image. You could invest in a light meter to avoid this. But firing the flash will cast light and show color in areas that would normally be dark. A mono-chromatic image is not as interesting as one with colorful highlights.
On shallow dives that are mostly “burn off nitrogen” dives, you find yourself in an abundance of ambient light. I shoot film, so I play with the “F” stop by closing the aperture a bit, fire the strobe for flash fill. You’ve accomplished two things that work in your favor, you have lit the reef/ subject and you have increased your depth of field.
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Why shoot macro on low power?
Ad some cooking oil and cracker meal and you have a “fried” image. I’m joking her but it is to make a point. On high power you have a brighter, more intense flash. On low power, less bright and intense … not “HOT”. Low power, with the strobe held close to the subject, can light your image beautifully.
It can add shadows giving the picture form and depth. Macro requires a softer light and it will take some practice to get the “hang” of where to hold that strobe at the proper distance and angle to achieve different, desired results.
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What kind of "set-up" should I buy?
Follow your wallet. If you’re a good shooter, you can still get good pictures with a $99 camera. Obviously, the more you shoot, the better you want to be and the inventory will grow. The more you spend, the better the equipment with the most options.
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Why shoot with film when it's a digital world?
I’ll answer with another question … why not shoot both? You can judge for yourself if you can afford it. There may be those times that you want to shoot film or digital.
There are people buying up old 33 1/3 albums and turntables are back. What are they listening to versus a digital version of the same song? What are people seeing in a picture shoot on film versus one in digital? In my blog post on this subject, I say “beauty is in the eye of the beholder”.
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How do I get my film converted to digital?
You can take your slides to a local photo store and they can do it. Do it often and it starts to get expensive. There are convertors that you cam buy on-line, like at Amazon, that allow you to do this yourself.
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