“
trigger strobe” on the camera. This limits options for off-
camera strobe placement because it may mean a strobe won’t
fire reliably when positioned as desired. Strobes that have
omnidirectional sensors or allow use of a remote sensor on
an accessory cord are a cave photographer’s best friend.
Placing strobe sensors at the ends of cables allows them to
be triggered after being hidden around corners. For example,
you might attach a backward-facing strobe to your buddy’s
double tanks (duct tape works well for this), run the sync
cord over his shoulder and position the sensor on the front of
his harness. As he swims toward you, your on-camera strobes
will light his face and the foreground, while the off-camera
strobe will light the cave behind him. Now your photographs
have changed from overexposed foreground rocks and
ghostly diver faces floating in blackness to intrepid divers
swimming through evenly lit tunnels.
Experiment with Care
Attaching a strobe to the back of your buddy’s tanks
requires care and attention from your buddy. Under the
high-flow entrance at Devil’s Eye in Ginnie Springs, Fla., the
floor is littered with plastic tank-valve knobs from divers
who came in contact with the roof. Even in low-flow caves,
scratches on the rock in well-traveled areas show where
divers’ tanks commonly scrape against the roof. If your
thousand-dollar strobe is the new highest point of your
buddy’s profile, it’s wise to have a talk about the possible
consequences of distracted diving before entering the water.
As the photographer juggles the technical and creative
tasks that come from trying to get stunning photos with
complicated equipment in an unforgiving environment, the
buddy may also take on new responsibilities. As photogenic
model and chief lighting officer, your buddy may also
take the lead in navigation and safety. All these roles are
important for coming home safely with great photos.
Why Photograph Caves?
Unlike the ocean, which is teeming with photogenic fish
and other critters, caves are known for their lack of wildlife.
Uninitiated divers question why on earth people would
dive underground: “What are you going to see? Wet rock?”
The short answers are “Yes,” and “The wet rock is pretty
spectacular.” Photos are an easy way to explain the attraction
of cave diving when they convey how it feels to float through
massive darkness. The most important part of every wet-rock
photograph is something that provides size and scale.
The Indispensible Buddy
Was the cave 10 feet across? Or a thousand? The easiest
way for your viewers to gauge how impressed to be is for
you to add a diver to the photo. And the ever-present
diver with every photographer is his or her buddy. Just
as it takes skill and effort to be a great photographer,
it takes skill and effort to be a great model. It starts
with gear selection (red drysuits are a favorite) and
includes great trim and buoyancy for hovering and
constant repositioning (“just slightly to the right”). The
most important attribute is a lot of patience — floating
midwater with an intrepid facial expression while the
photographer fiddles endlessly with settings is not
everyone’s idea of a good dive.
Cave-diving photographers use wide-angle lenses to
capture the whole cave when they are close enough to throw
strobe light on the subject. These lenses tend to distort the
edges of the picture, bending straight lines. For most setups
there is a very small sweet spot for models that is between 3
and 10 feet away from the camera. This is far enough away
for the model to be normal-shaped and close enough for
the strobe light to reach him. Experienced models know
this zone and move through it very slowly, allowing the
photographer time to focus and recompose as necessary.
Focusing in the dark will require either a dive light pointed
at the subject (preferably not at the subject’s eyes) or a
focus-lock function on the camera.
102
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FALL 2012
IMAGING
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P H O T O T E C H N I Q U E S
Minimal on-camera flash in complete darkness is enough
to trigger the off-camera strobe, outlining the diver
against the white limestone wall in Kilsby’s Sinkhole.