Snoot in underwater photography

Text and photos MICHAL ŠTROS

Snoot RETRA LSD Ultimate attached to the YS-D1 Sea & Sea strobe

Shooting in locations optimal for taking macro shots is conducive to fascinating encounters with the smallest and usually the most isolated inhabitants of the seas on the planet.

Most of these monsters or tiny beauties are seen on unremarkable, often litter-covered sandy bottoms. The photographed objects are not only filigree, but also sometimes effectively masked with algae or sponges of similar colours and textures. In such a situation, it is worth having a so-called "snoot" (a conical tube) – a special attachment installed on an external strobe in order to illuminate the object itself, avoiding the disturbing background. Snoot gives the photo a black background, which builds drama, brings out the colour, contrast and vividness. Shadows are also created to enhance the creative qualities of photos. The first individually constructed snoots looked like funnels and reduced the illuminated surface of the subject. Over time, snoots evolved and a laser was added to commercial devices to better locate the direction of the light beam (this type of conical tube did not use the pilot light of the strobe to locate the direction of the beam). The size of the holes was limited by a series of bolted tubes of different diameters. Although the operation in domestic conditions seemed simple, there was a problem under the water, how not to lose individual tubes and be able to possibly quickly screw them back into each other. The surface illuminated by the strobe using these snoots was relatively large and its shape was not a perfect circle, had no sharp edges and the laser often left red points in the photo. Other snoots used two optical fibres to conduct the light from the strobe. Although this seemed beneficial, it was difficult to aim both snoots at a given motif. Each such conical tube is, however, constructed in such a way that it does not produce light, but only allows the light beam to be focused and directed. The highest quality snoots cannot limit the intensity of the light, because then they must be compensated by a higher sensitivity (ISO) or a larger aperture. These types of compensations can lead to increased noise and too much contrast in the photo. In my opinion, the best commercially available snoot at the moment is the "RETRA LSD Ultimate Light Shaping Device" (RETRA for short, www. retra-uwt.com), an optical lens system that transmits the light

Canon 80D in Ikelite Underwater casing and Snoot RETRA LSD Ultimate attached to YS-D1 Sea & Sea strobe

without reducing its intensity. The RETRA interchangeable snoot masks have different diameters and creative patterns to define the size and shape of the light beam. The masks slide extremely easily and quickly into the snoot slot and can be changed in no time underwater. Each mask is equipped with a magnet and there are also two magnets on the RETRA side, so you can temporarily store unused templates there. RETRA has worked great for me and it proved to be a product with high quality finishes. The shooting distance from the main motif in the case of RETRA – compared to other snoots – is relatively large (about 15 cm or more, measured from the front edge of the snoot), which is a huge advantage for very shy creatures. RETRA can be mounted on the strobe with the use of easy-touse clasp and holds very stable.

Although the principle of operation of the conical tube is extremely simple, its perfect application is a completely different story. For this reason, in this article I will try to describe not only the difficulties of underwater shooting with snoot, but also how to effectively deal with these limitations. WHEN IS IT WORTH USING SNOOT AND WHEN IS IT BETTER TO GIVE IT UP? Although focusing and directing the light beam with a snoot can produce astonishingly interesting results, sometimes underwater conditions are not ideal for snoot photography. These include in particular intense sunlight or strong currents. The pilot light passing through the conical tube indicates where exactly the object will be illuminated, but trying to see it in the sunlight will most likely be futile – especially around noon at depths up to 10 m. Believe me, when you shoot with a snoot, it is hard to be more frustrated than when you try to look at the sandy bottom, where your pilot light is precisely directed, and you cannot see anything as the rays of the tropical sun are constantly flashing over your head. At depths from 15 meters down, the sunlight is less intense, so that the pilot light of the strobe is easy to see even during the day. At small depths (up to 10 m) I recommend using snoot with pilot light only early in the morning or late in the afternoon. In addition to better visibility of the pilot light, there is another reason why it is worth

On the hunt (yellow fish yellow angler fish) Nudibranch Thecacera sp.

photographing with snoot in the morning or late afternoon. During the day, at depths below 15 m, in sunny weather, you need to set a shorter shutter speed of 1/250s and a larger aperture (f/16-29) to obtain a black background. For this reason, it is difficult to achieve an out-of-focus background by setting a small lens aperture (f/2.8-4) without overexposing the photo at the same time. All these considerations come down to the conclusion that the best visibility of the pilot light and the most favourable snoot orientation (regardless of the diving depth) are obtained during night dives.

Another obstacle in snoot photography is turbulent and foamy water (and all currents). Even though my diving friend or guide assisted me with directing a narrow beam of pilot light in such conditions, the uninterrupted surge was a real nightmare for me – not only because of the need to hold the camera steadily, but above all because of the need for perfect focus on the smallest objects like e.g. two-millimeter eyes or rhinophores.

LOCATING THE SNOOT Basically, the snoot can be placed over, in front of or on the side of the object. When the strobe is installed on adjustable arms, the mobility of the mounted snoot is severely restricted. In practice, this means that the clamps must be loosened and re-attached in a constant and highly impractical way each time the snoot is positioned. For this reason, I prefer to mount the strobe on the camera handle with the possibility of triggering it with a button. The final positioning of the strobe over the subject is then carried out with my left hand, while my right hand holds the camera and operates the trigger. If you have the opportunity to use your diving partner's help to precisely manipulate the snoot and position it, under favourable circumstances you will get rid of one problem. The big disadvantage, however, is that your diving partner will not be able to guess what you see in the viewfinder, and all this greatly increases the risk of improper lighting. Another downside is the loss of the ability to illuminate only selected parts of the subject, which would usually lead to stunningly creative underwater photos. Sometimes it is impossible to predict at all whether snoot will work in a given location full of macro motifs. In addition, during the dive, it often happens that the conditions change (e.g. currents, turbulent and foaming water or intense sunlight

Nudibranch Flabellina sp. Chapiteau (squat shrimp Thor amboinensis)

at a shallow depth) or you simply decide to photograph something else that is not suitable for snoot. For this reason, I always have two strobes attached to my camera casing – on the left side with a snoot and on the right side only with a diffuser. To take pictures without snoot, I place the right strobe above the camera casing or on the right side, at a different distance from the lens. Snoot photography, however, is not only limited to macro shots, but is also used for impressive wide-angle underwater shots with fisheye lenses. In these cases, the left strobe with a snoot is used to intentionally illuminate an interesting, smaller foreground subject, creating contrast with a dimly lit background (the right strobe is turned off completely or set to low light intensity).

SETTING THE STROBE INTENSITY To get a black background, I set the shutter speed to 1/1501/250s (depending on the macro lens type) and use an aperture of f/11-29. Occasionally, however, I use a deliberately small aperture (f/2.8-5.6) to achieve the effect of a blurred background. Since I set the strobe intensity manually, I first shoot a few randomly selected motifs using different intensity light in order to obtain optimal lighting. Sometimes I also move the snoot away from the motif without changing the intensity of the light. I do all these tests at the beginning of the dive, before I start the actual shooting. Later I only apply slight adjustments to camera settings, light intensity and snoot distance to the subject.

IMAGE EDITING I take all underwater photos in RAW file format and then process them at home in Camera Raw and Photoshop (Adobe). In Camera Raw, I first balance white and then adjust the exposure, contrast, light and shadows, texture changes, clarity, and colour balance. In later steps, I continue processing, e.g. by cleaning the background, increasing sharpness and cropping photos in Photoshop (all photos in this article were taken on Bali – Seraya Secret / Melasti / Amed and Padangbai with a Canon 80D camera with 60mm or 100mm macro lenses, with strobe YS-D1 Sea & Sea and RETRA LSD Ultimate Snoot).

FINALLY, A PIECE OF GOOD ADVICE Underwater (macro) photography has never been as flexible,

Nudibranch Doto greenamyeri

creative, versatile and relatively simple as it is using a snoot. Nevertheless, it is worth getting acquainted with snoot photography first in ideal conditions, for example in a swimming pool, and then try to take such pictures in the sea. Nevertheless, you should be patient if you want to become the authors of beautiful underwater photos – not only with the use of a snoot. To do this, you must take dozens of photos of the same object. The best results can only be achieved by following the well-known proverb: "Practice makes perfect".

More information about the author is available on his website:

www.michalstros.cz German translation by Alina Lizakowska

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