Do I need strobes or additional lights snorkeling?

Nov 28, 2010
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Flashes and Strobes for Snorkeling Photography?
by: Galen & Nicole

Hi Tiff. Nearly everything you will read online will tell you need an external flash/strobe for doing underwater photography. But that is because nearly everything written for underwater photography is by divers. Divers use artificial light for two reasons. One, they are deeper underwater, and there is less light. Two, because they are deeper underwater they loose a great amount of color in their subjects. And so for them, an external flash is a necessity.

For a snorkeler, most of the time you don't need a flash because you have a lot of natural light available since you are mostly on the surface, and your subjects are generally not more than about 5-15 feet deep. Your subject color will also be a bit better (although I use a Magic Filter to help improve colors).

Another reason I don't use a flash snorkeling is because you have to position the flash a good distance away from your lens to prevent the flash from reflecting off the little particles in the water that create an undesirable speckled snowy look. To position it away from the camera you have to have a big arm with a handle. This combined with the flash starts to create a pretty big contraption that I have no desire to snorkel with.

On the other hand, the benefits of flash for a snorkeler are that you can stop fish motion easier, and you can get better colors. And for night snorkeling it may be a necessity (although for the Manta Rays they do light the water up and will probably provide you with lanterns).

One final point. Go for the Canon S95, particularly if you don't use a flash, because it has much better high ISO performance. You can take good pictures at 800 ISO and up, reducing the need for flash even more.

Do I need strobes or additional lights snorkeling?

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Do I need strobes or additional lights snorkeling?