Macro photography can be a ton of fun taking pictures of shrimp, pigmy seahorses and colorful sea slugs. The challenge is always proper lighting. Trying to get the proper lighting using your strobe but not overexposing……yes, we have all done it. Here are some great tips when positioning your strobe.
When using a single external strobe, 45 degrees is the angle to consistently use. Your strobe should be about 45 degrees above the center of your lens. The side the light is positioned on is determined by the direction that the subject is facing. For example, if you are photographing a harlequin shrimp, and it is facing left, you would put your flash 45 degrees to the left, and pointing down at a 45 degree angle directly at the shrimp. This way you are lighting the face of the shrimp and not it’s “bad side” or back side.
If you are using two strobes, you have one as your main strobe and the other would be used as your filler strobe. The key strobe is your 45 degree setting which will cast a shadow and give your subject a 3D appearance. The “filler” is your strobe that will be placed directly in line with your lens and very close to your camera, pointing straight at the subject. It’s purpose is to fill in the shadow of the key strobe a little bit, but cast it’s shadow BEHIND the subject so that you don’t end up with a double shadow. Because the fill strobe is to fill in some of the shadow, the setting will always be lower then your key strobe. This setting is usually about 1/2 the power of your key strobe. If you are shooting in bad visibility, you may need to use the fill flash as more of a over head light to reduce the backscatter.
