Subject:	Lose the strobes...
Author:	whaletale
Date:	8/14/2002 7:19:01 PM
Message:

Outdoor in clear pool, I believe you will find strobes unnecessary. It's easy to figure out. Load film, set camera to A or S, jump in and meter your light at different settings.

Use aperture priority to shoot. Portrait mode is intended to reduce your depth of field so that only your subject is in focus. This means it is likely picking a wide open aperture, say 2.8. Now it wants to compensate by picking a fast shutter speed, possibly beyond the flash synch range, but I'm not sure seeing as you are using super fast film.

I shoot shallow water (ocean) shots without strobes, aperture priority. I set the aperture at f/8, usually optimum for the lens, and check my exposure in the water and adjust accordingly. If you really want to soften background and foreground, just open up the lens. You can basically do what the portrait setting is doing, only you get to control it.

You can try different speed films to see what works best exposure wise. As far as I'm concerned, Kodak Supra is the lowest grain print film around. It's Royal Gold with less grain. I've shot 100, 400 and 800, and it really does well even at the higher speeds. I would try 400 and see how it works. If you can get away with 2 stops less light, try the 100, or even try Royal Gold 200. Time of day/position of sun will be important, at least one stop.

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