71 replies to this topic

[mo2vation]

Some recent shots with the Tfish.


Diver mounted back firing, plus ground mounted up-firing. Had her back into an impossible place - in the surge we got tangled up just a little bit as we shot this series...











TFish with my Fiber Optic Snoot














Using TFish to trigger strobe beneath kelp to achieve light table effect on a Hermissenda






I take out 2 or 3 of these rigs on every dive. Done hundreds of shots with the TFish.

Love them!



-Ken

Edited by mo2vation, 10 August 2011 - 02:01 PM.

[owfotograaf]

Just back from Maldives.
Triggerfish use!

[leighdu]

Nice work!

I recently tried using my new triggers, I was shooting in a lake and it was freezing! so i didnt have too much tiem to play with them and move them around but here is 1 shot.

Attached Images

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[errbrr]

Nice shots!

Hediwg, do you have any triggerfish left? On a recent trip I discovered my first problem with a triggerfish strobe - it's not attached to the camera. My remote strobe with triggerfish attached disappeared at the end of the trip, and hasn't been rediscovered...I'd love to buy a replacement.

Cheers,

Liz

[Chriso]

Nice shots!

Hediwg, do you have any triggerfish left? On a recent trip I discovered my first problem with a triggerfish strobe - it's not attached to the camera. My remote strobe with triggerfish attached disappeared at the end of the trip, and hasn't been rediscovered...I'd love to buy a replacement.

Cheers,

Liz

Hi Liz
If there are some left and if you are planning on getting some over please let me know, I will take a couple as well.

[mo2vation]

My latest batch from this weekend.

We dived the Yukon and the Ruby E in San Diego. I've been waiting on this trip for a few weeks.

Friday late afternoon, reports started pouring in of amazing viz on the Yukon. I was getting so excited, as I waited for the clock to strike 5:30 and I could blast south and prepare for a day on these wrecks.

My plan was to revisit the interior of the Yukon - just inside some of the big square hatches, and bring along 3 or 4 remotely triggered strobes ("pixars") to light the place up. it gave me a chance to finally try out the remote strobes for interior shots.

I've been doing exteriors with them for awhile - now I finally got to do some interiors.

I've built 4 remote strobe rigs, or "pixars" (named by my buddy for their resemblance to the movie company Icon) are standard Ikelite DS125's mounted to an aluminum Gorilla Pod, and fired via an optical sensor (Hedwig's amazing "triggerfish").










This would be my first time using the pixars in a big interior space. I've been using them outside, mostly to drive my Fiber Optic snoots and for some cool kelp effects - but where these should shine is on a confined, dark, large space like the Yukon!

After preparing all the gear the night before, I give it all another run through prior to splashing. The plan is simple:

• Scoot along and find a suitable opening -hopefully one with cables, ropes or something near the outside that can serve as a hitching post for the scoots
• Crawl into the wreck at 100 FSW, laden with a camera, an AL40 and a lobster bag filled with Pixars - assess the situation, position Claudette, set up the strobes, take some test shots, tweek the lighting a time or two, take the real shots, then take down
• If there's NDL time and gas left, move UP to the Funnel (about 80 FSW), feed a pixar down the funnel, secure so I don't lose it, and light the thing up like a Christmas tree and get some shots.

Ambitious? Oh yes. But I'm not here that much, so I want to make the most of these dives!



Inferior interior from Dive 1 - a tiny pop from a pixar behind the box on the right, the rest is all on-camera strobe. The pixar on her back wasn't firing consistently - I have a bad sync cord on that one.



Funnel Test shot from Dive 1 - who knew this thing was split into two chambers?? So bogus. I'll light it next time with two remote strobes. Sheephead checking out the light! I didn't PS out the Pixar so you could see how I lit this thing.



Buddy into position against Funnel. I want to see how far away I can be and still make this thing fire. This is just a test shot so its overexposed, etc, etc... I'm sad I wasn't able to return on dive 2 and get these right. Oh well... its not the first time NDL has squashed one of my good ideas.



Yukon interior shot from Dive 2 using 5 strobes:

• two on camera
• one remote on the diver's back pointing straight up
• one remote (set right) using the floor (right wall) as bounce to fill
• one remote about 25 feet away, behind the diver lighting up the back wall and offering a halo to the diver.

Unfortunately, in this shot the Diver was blow up a little bit by the inflow surge right as I was shooting, so the far away remote is visible just under her. Still - I love this shot.



At the end of Dive 2, on our stops I grabbed a shot of Tom and Claudette getting their Glove on. No triggerfish... just a fun goofy shot.




The Ruby E was a dusty, surgey mess by the time we got there. This was a shot from the wheelhouse - two pixars free standing. One behind the hole in the wall on the left, one behind the door. Had to get buddy very close to the floor to try to get a halo effect in the dust cloud. I'm going to work on this a little more - but this could be a neat effect when I get it dialed in.





Fun stuff!

Thanks, Hedwig!!

[newmanl]

owfotograaf,

Brilliant work - very creative! I love the second image.

Lee

[errbrr]

I guess all the ocean stuff is nice...but the best place for a triggerfish is underwater, underground! I've had some great dives over the last week in the caves here. Every off camera strobe added to the mix adds to the complexity, but the triggerfish are firing the strobes much more reliably than the other slave sensors I've been using.

This one was with two strobes on camera and two strobes on my diver - one hand held and one on his back:


This was one of my first dives were I intended to put strobes down in the cave, then take the picture. Getting things positioned appropriately without stirring up enough silt to create a huge backscatter halo around each strobe was a challenge, but when it works the results are cool.


For reference, here's what happens when the strobe battery goes flat - yes, there is a diver hiding in the dark there somewhere. We were just under 1km from home, and I really needed some new batteries...

[owfotograaf]

I guess all the ocean stuff is nice...but the best place for a triggerfish is underwater, underground! I've had some great dives over the last week in the caves here. Every off camera strobe added to the mix adds to the complexity, but the triggerfish are firing the strobes much more reliably than the other slave sensors I've been using.

Great pictures Liz!
Hope to do some cave dives also, but first i have to follow a good course!

Edited by owfotograaf, 03 October 2011 - 09:49 AM.

[Adrian Schoene]

Hi,

I want one as well as the solution from subtronic is not working very good. Do you still sell them?

Thank you.

Best Regards,
Adrian

[owfotograaf]

Off strobe use.
Pumping station @ Grevelingen - Netherlands.
(Technique copy 'd from Alex Mustard).

[mo2vation]

Some recent T-Fish remote stuff with my F/O Snoots

We were on a trip to Catalina last weekend. Grabbed these shots.


Snooted up Hudsons, running over the sticks - 2-arm fiber optic snoot, remote T-fish






We found a lacy bryzoan skin on the sand. I put it on a large Elkhorn Kelp leaf and snooted away.


Lacy - Shot #1 - Snoot from top down only




Lacy #2 - Bottom lit only through the kelp. No top light



Lacy #3 - lit as above, from the bottom - but with the other arm of the snoot aiming at the top as fill light. WOW!!






Inside-the-box - this eel was deep in a box on the corner of the swim platform. I snooted up Moray and friends - shooting the light under the rim of the box with the snoot




Snooted up cleaner shrimp as he pokes out to see what all the hubbub is about. Turned the snoot 90-degrees, and grabbed this guy as he walked out




Urchin Test - lit from inside, also lit from top with the second arm of the Snoot as fill light





Urchin test - lit ONLY from the inside. The top arm of the snoot bent out of frame. I love this shot!





Shot this octo with my "super soaker' snoot - a very, very long snoot with hundreds of fibers in it. I built it especially for this trip - to light up GPO's deep in their holes!




SUPER SOAKER

Edited by mo2vation, 22 November 2011 - 06:32 PM.

[mo2vation]

Snooty Goodness - the three together

Snoot #001 is the 1/4" dual output

Snoot #002 ("phatty snoot") is the 1/2" dual output, and is my go-to for most macro these days

Snoot #003 ("Supersoaker") is a very long, 3/4 single output (about 400+ fibers) monster used to illuminate larger critters in tough spots (think Giant Pacific Octos in their dens, Moray Eels, Wolf Eels, etc.) or for bending light into fun and interesting new places.

Wanted to be sure I posted shots of these together. Always fired remotely via Hedwig's amazing TriggerFish.


-Ken








Original 1/4" Fiber Optic Snoot





Follow up 1/2" Phatty Snoot








The 3/4" Super Soaker






All three, side by side






All three, standing. Nectar of the gods inserted next to Snootus Pachydermus for reference.





This is the business end of the snoots. Illuminated with simple flashlights. You can see how the fibers fill the ends of the Original Snoot and the Phatty Snoot - while there is still a ton of space in the Super Soaker. I took it to Seattle and Vancuver like this - worked great. I still need to fill with another 150 or so Fibers.

Edited by mo2vation, 30 November 2011 - 11:38 AM.

[owfotograaf]

The last batch off triggers is sold out!

.... but i am planning a new one that will be ready at end of February.

I will post a message when they are ready or send me a message if interrested so i can let you know when they are ready.
greets, Hedwig.

[owfotograaf]

The last batch off triggers is sold out!

.... but i am planning a new one that will be ready at end of February.

I will post a message when they are ready or send me a message if interrested so i can let you know when they are ready.
greets, Hedwig.

triggerfish@telenet.be is not in use anymore!!!!

contact me at hedwig.dieraert@telenet.be

[owfotograaf]

triggerfish@telenet.be is back in use !!!

[owfotograaf]

The new batch triggers are finally available!

Cave divers leaving .... and are coming back! ( Because off a back injury i have to use the triggers above water. )

[owfotograaf]

Disassemble sea & sea cable to extend.

clamp the front in a vise with aluminum protection.
loosen the connector.
cut the cable.
remove the insulation.
remove the electrical connector from behind with a punch.
and now looking for a 5core cable with a diameter of 6mm.

[gobiodon]

Hi Ken!

Really nice fiber optic solution. I don't want to hijack this thread, but I have many questions not related to the remote slave trigger but your strobe adapter.
Maybe you should start a new thread in the DIY section.

Cheers

Marcell

[owfotograaf]

Some new pics from this month in the Lot - France with trigger use.
greets Hedwig.