For some people, Golden Week is already over and things are returning to normal. Wow! The temperature in Miyakojima today was 30°C during the day! That's why Mickey Mouse is still in Miyakojima after only 20 days!
It's already summer vacation time, and the cicadas are chirping away. I may be losing out in terms of youth and freshness, but I'm not losing out in terms of dark skin! This is Totti. I took my external strobe to the beach for the first time in a while, and I had a thought, so today I'll be talking about strobes!
Situations where an external strobe for underwater cameras is required
Strobe lights are useful in a variety of situations, but when exactly do they really shine? I thought I'd write about it here for the sake of clarity!
First of all, in general macro photography, cameras are equipped with built-in flashes, so attaching an external flash doesn't really change the photo drastically. If you get the hang of it, you can take pretty good photos with a built-in flash! Well, it might be good for intentionally creating shadows, or when zooming in to take photos of subjects you can't get close to from a distance, but the situations are limited.
External flash is most effective on the wide-angle side
I think the wide-angle shots are the ones where a flash can dramatically change a photo. That's because the built-in flash has a hopelessly weak and narrow range! Take this photo, for example. I like the look of no-flash photography, but if you can bring out the colors, the range of photography expands dramatically. An external flash is most valuable in situations where you want to bring out the colors of large subjects like schools of fish or corals!
Can underwater lights be used instead?
And for example, you may ask, "Is an underwater light okay?" However, no matter how powerful the light, the wider the shot, the less light there is. The answer is no. It can be used up to a certain angle of view and subject distance, but under bright sunlight, the light is ineffective. When it comes to light output, no equipment can beat a strobe, and no matter how hard you try with an underwater light, you won't get the result you see in the photo below.
With an external flash
Underwater strobes are the key to capturing true colors
Natural light or underwater mode is sufficient in shallow waters up to a depth of 5m, but any deeper and beautiful colors will no longer appear. Unfortunately, the current technology of camera manufacturers does not allow for the use of an external flash to produce beautiful colors.
The ocean is filled with vibrant colors that are incomparable to those on land. However, because red is lost due to refraction of light, the real visual impression when diving is that the world is almost bluish. The role of strobes and underwater lights is to shine light directly onto this world and bring back its original colors.
Getting the most out of your underwater strobe
In fact, there are quite a lot of people who use external strobes without really knowing their value. I often get asked questions from people who are unsure whether to buy a strobe, and I hope today's article will be of some help to them. The equipment you need to buy (a strobe? a wide-angle lens? a macro lens? or even the camera itself?) will depend on what you want to shoot, so
What kind of photos do you really want to take, what kind of photos do you like?
Knowing this is the first step before buying camera equipment! I think a photographer once said, "Even in underwater photography, you must first know yourself." So, start by looking at lots of photos! I'm sure you'll be able to take the first step!
So today marks the end of the busy Golden Week holiday. Thanks to everyone, it was a whirlwind 10-odd days, and the sea conditions were great, so it was a great holiday.
Thank you to everyone who came to see BIGHOLIDAY and our fun friends! Every day was fun! This year, the holidays seemed to flow together nicely, with guests changing three times at the beginning, middle, and end of the week. The rainy season seems to have started late this year, and hasn't been announced yet. The water temperature has risen from 23°C to 26°C in just the past month, but just as we were thinking about it, another typhoon is approaching!
In this way, the seasons seem to pass by at an incredible speed. We will be closed tomorrow due to an approaching typhoon. Maybe the day after tomorrow too?
Nice holiday! Big holiday!
See you tomorrow~
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Totty — BIGHOLIDAY Owner's Guide
I've lived in Miyako Island for 21 years (since 2005). I specialize in fun diving. I select Miyako Island's three major dive sites more than 150 times a year, and I've done about 20,000 dives in Miyako Island. YouTube "Totty / scuba diving" shares Miyakojima diving information with more than twelve thousand subscribers.
Since 2023, we have been among the top-ranked Marine Diving Award winners for three consecutive years.
2023 Japan Coast Guard Director-General's Award (for meritorious service in maritime rescue)
Discoverer of Miyako Island's first manta ray station in 2025
