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pool

Underwater Testing: Part One

July 29, 2012 by Josh Baker

Summer in Texas is hot, make that a capital “H” Hot!. Shooting outdoor portraits in the summer HOT months aren’t a whole lotta fun. So last summer we rented some underwater gear and tested out shooting cool portraits underwater in places like the spring fed Comal River. After dealing with the cumbersomeness of the Aquatech Sport Housing we searched for a more nimble approach to get our Canon 5d II underwater. Dealt with Mike at Essex Surf Housings and we figured out a solution to my creative problems – triggering strobes underwater.

So let’s back up just a bit.

Austin at the pool, no extra lights

Here is Austin, my first mate, in our community pool on a somewhat cloudy day without any extra lights on his face. Nothing wrong with this image, just not the over-the-topness that I am looking for. That and the Lightroom adjustments are plenty starting with +75 red units to help balance out the blueness of the water and his skintone.

Self Portrait with added 390 Lumens

Same Pool, Next Day a self portrait with the added light of a Princeton Tec Shockwave diving light that produces a continous source of light at 390 lumens. Not extremely bright for underwater, need to be on the shadow side of the facial exposure (my back is to the sun) and about 3 feet away to affect the exposure in a meaningful way. This light will prove useful for tight portraits but not a main light for the big sets I have planned.

Megan in Murky Barton Springs
LumoPro 160 at full power in an OtterBox

Enter the LumoPro 160 in a Pelican 1060 case. More power! The above photo is taken at iso 100, f11, 1/200th (the 5d2 sync speed). With the help of Mike from Essex Surf Housings we determined that the CST from Paul C. Buff would fit inside the housing and help me to trigger strobes. Megan, a local triathlete, is brave enough to test at Barton Springs with me. For those that don’t know the Springs are a constant 68 degrees. The CSRB and the LP160 make a tight squeeze but in a good way. The flash doesn’t bounce around and the head aim is consistent.

We found that if the camera housing and the strobe housing are just breaking the surface of the water then we had at least 15 feet of range. We didn’t test beyond that distance. However if either of the housing’s were submerged, which the Pelican Product page says not to, then the effective range is about 15 inches. Basically an underwater version of a flash on a bracket.

Backstroke Megan

I had contemplated putting a CTO filter on the flash to warm it up even more against the blueness of water and cursed myself on the drive to the Springs for not bringing one. One of my Pelican Cases is Yellow though and the light it emits is quite yellow/orange which is close enough for me. The light you see in the back of the above image is the yellow Pelican Case with the LP160 firing at full power.

Which brings us to the next challenge in our quest to bring our style fully underwater, adding at least one more flash underwater. To do so, we are going to test out using the optical slave of an additional LP160 in an extra Pelican Case. Using good Strobist technique we will use the radio-triggers to fire one unit as an on axis fill, while hopefully using the the optical slave (not digital slave since we are full manual here) as a key light or a separation light, depending on the sun.

Heading out bright and early to give this setup a go tomorrow morning, stay tuned for the follow up post

Josh Baker, award winning Austin area wedding photographer.
Josh Baker

Josh loves a good adventure and some of his favorite wedding and engagement shoots have involved “getting crazy” or going somewhere special to the couple.

Josh is a Texas native and long time Pflugerville resident. He started his photography business in 2009 and has never looked back. His photo business even allowed him to be daddy-day-care before his two sons reached school age. Over the years his business has expanded to include just about every type of photography including automotive, editorial portraits, corporate events, sports and food. Through it all, he has continued to love wedding photography for genuine moment, the fast pace and the diversity of subjects it offers. Josh is a co-founder of North Austin Pfoutographic Society and a resident instructor at Precision Camera & Video in Austin, Tx.

http://www.azulox.com

Filed Under: Creative Tagged With: barton springs, lp160, pelican case, pool, portraits, strobist, testing, underwater

Indiana Schwant and the Hamilton Pool

June 4, 2012 by Josh Baker

What follows is a fun tale of engagement. Indy Schwant is in the Far East on the Search for a Wedding Idol and leaves with more than he bargained for. We first see Indy in a seedy bar looking for clues when his eye is caught by a luscious lounge singer, let’s call her Dana. Their adventure jump starts by them looking for clues into the whereabouts of the cultural artifact. After Indy Schwant swaps the Cake Topper Idol, they are faced with booby traps and bad guys. But Indy always wins doesn’t he. What is his prize for this adventure?

Somewhere in a bar in the Far East, Indy is intrigued by Dana the Singer

[Read more…] about Indiana Schwant and the Hamilton Pool

Josh Baker, award winning Austin area wedding photographer.
Josh Baker

Josh loves a good adventure and some of his favorite wedding and engagement shoots have involved “getting crazy” or going somewhere special to the couple.

Josh is a Texas native and long time Pflugerville resident. He started his photography business in 2009 and has never looked back. His photo business even allowed him to be daddy-day-care before his two sons reached school age. Over the years his business has expanded to include just about every type of photography including automotive, editorial portraits, corporate events, sports and food. Through it all, he has continued to love wedding photography for genuine moment, the fast pace and the diversity of subjects it offers. Josh is a co-founder of North Austin Pfoutographic Society and a resident instructor at Precision Camera & Video in Austin, Tx.

http://www.azulox.com

Filed Under: Adventure Engagement, Creative, Destination Engagement, Engagements, Themed Engagement Tagged With: austin, cinematic, e-session, engagement session, hamilton pool, indiana jones, lounge singer, movie, pool, texas, waterfall, whip

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About AzulOx Visuals

We are Austin wedding photographers and Austin wedding videographers. We offer professional photography for weddings and seniors. We love crazy adventure engagements and bridal sessions that are out of the ordinary.

From the surprise of engagement through the excitement of your wedding day, we deliver images and video that stands the test of time, and offer a glimpse into the lives of our subjects both as individuals and as a couple. AzulOx preserves your special moments on both film and video, allowing you to bring your memories life over and over again.

We routinely photograph and video Austin weddings, Georgetown weddings, Round Rock weddings, Temple weddings, Driftwood weddings, Kyle weddings, and Dripping Springs weddings. We can travel nation and world wide for destination weddings. We have recently visited Los Angeles, New Orleans, Port Aransas, India and Denver for weddings.

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