Macro photography is the easiest aspect of underwater photography. Your subject is a set distance away from the lens and the strobe. Your subject is not usually moving so you have plenty of time to set up the shot. Why is it then that more of us don't come back with those great shots that we see in our mind's eye?

I think that the first thing to do is to make photography as easy as possible. Take out as many of the variables as you can. In macro, you can eliminate almost all of them. Film speed, focus distance and shutter speed are three of the five variables in macro photography. They are eliminated by your choice. Choose ASA 50 film - no more variable. Macro photography with extension tubes and framers require a specific focus distance setting on the camera which is usually the closest focusing distance of the lens. For a Nikonos 35mm lens, that is 2.5' or 2.75' depending on the lens. For the Nikonos 28mm lens, the setting is 2'. Set the distance and no more variable. Shutter speed is next. With a Nikonos camera, shooting on "A" or "M90" set the shutter speed at 1/90th of a second. No more variable.

The last two variables are lens opening or f-stop and strobe to subject distance. F-stop is easy. If you are shooting in the manual mode, set your lens opening at f16-22 (half way between f16 and f22. If you are shooting in the automatic mode, set your f-stop at f22. That eliminates f-stop as a variable. We will talk more about it later. Last is strobe to subject distance. This takes some testing and I will explain this more in another section of photo tips. In my dual strobe macro setup, using a 1:3 macro framer, ASA 50 film, "M90" or "A" shutter speeds, and a f16-22 lens opening, my main strobe is set 5 1/2" from the face of the strobe to the center of the framer.

The system works great but definitely leaves some dark shadows. Especially when the strobe is off to the side of the camera. To lighten the shadows, I use a reflector when shooting 2:1 (twice life size) and 1:1 macro. For 1:2, 1:2.8 (with a 28mm lens) and 1:3 macro, I use dual strobes.

Reflector attached to a 1:1 macro framer

The reflector is made from a piece of white plastic. The wire that attaches to the framer support and the white plastic are pieces of a coat hangar. They bend easily but are rigid enough to hold their position. I drilled two small holes in the framer support for the wire and then attached the wire to the plastic using plastic cable ties. The strobe is placed on the side of the camera opposite the reflector. Light bounces off the reflector and lights up the dark side of the photo. You can use different colors of plastic or put aluminum foil or colored foil over the plastic for different lighting effects.

Nikon IVA Film Camera with 28 mm Lens and 1:2.8 Macro Framer with Dual Ikelite 50 Strobes

This is my macro setup when I shot with a film camera. The strobe on the right is connected to the camera with a cord. It is set closer to the framer than the strobe on the right. The strobe on the right is a slave strobe. It does not have a cord but has a sensor in the front of the strobe that causes the strobe to fire when it senses the light from the main strobe. The strobe on the left is set back about 1 1/2" farther away from the framer that the strobe on the right. By setting the strobe farther away, I reduce the intensity of the light and give the photo depth by adding shadows to the photo.

The main strobe in the dual strobe system is an Ikelite Substrobe M set at 5 1/2" from the face of the strobe to the center of the framer. The second strobe is an Ikelite Substrobe MS (slave) on the other side of the camera set at a distance of 7" from the face of the strobe to the center of the framer. The reason that the second strobe is set farther away is that the light from that strobe will travel a greater distance than the light from the main strobe and will have less intensity when it arrives back in the camera. This will lighten the shadows on that side of the picture but not eliminate them. If you eliminate shadows completely from a picture, the picture will be flat and lifeless. That is not what you want.

The examples below show the effects of a second strobe. These photos were not made to be pretty pictures but were made to show the effects of a dual strobe system. 

The following are examples of using two strobes or a reflector in macro photography

The effects shown here were accomplished by shooting the same subject with identical camera setups. The single strobe setup was a Nikonos III camera with a 1:3 macro framer with a single Ikelite Substrobe M flash on manual power. Film was Fuji Velvia with an ASA of 50. The lens opening was f16-22 and the shutter speed was M90. The strobe was placed above the lens and to the left of the camera (as it faces the subject). I had an identically equipped setup with a Nikonos III camera with the same film, same framer, same lens opening, same shutter speed but with a second Ikelite Substrobe MS. This is a slave strobe and does not need a cord to fire. The second strobe was placed on the right side of the camera and was positioned approximately 1 1/2" farther away from the framer as the strobe on the left. The change in the photos is remarkable. 

A similar effect can be had with a reflector although the change in lighting will not be as dramatic. I find that two strobes placement with a 1:1 framer or a 2:1 (twice life size) framer is difficult. The reflector is a much better choice and is easier to work with.