About the Photographer:

Bob Broton has been shooting still underwater photos for over 25 years. He has been diving and photographing extensively in the Great Lakes, East Coast, Hawaii, the Caribbean, Great Britain, Australia and now Micronesia. Shipwrecks are a passion. He prefers very wide angle equipment to maximize the image and clarity, while minimizing the camera to subject distance. This technique requires a ultra wide angle lens (~20mm) and a very high power wide coverage strobe (>100 degrees). Holding the camera in one hand and the strobe in the other at an angle to the subject minimizes backscatter from particulate in the water. Superb ambient light shots require remaining very still for long exposures. Flash is done in Manual mode at F11 to F8 aperture for 1/30 to 1/40 sec! ond and for ambient light conditions, the same F stops with automatic aperture priority exposures over 1 second.

Equipment and Settings

Camera - Olympus C-3030 3 mega pixel; 2048x1536 standard jpeg

Manual Mode; Iso 200 or 400 - 1/40 or 1/30 second; F11 to F8

Ikelite Substrobe 400 (110 degree coverage) half power to full power based on distance.

Housing/Lens-Light and Motion Tetra 3030 with Ultra-wide angle wet mate lens 823-0491