Strobe Positioning: The Rabbit Ears Technique

Julian Cohen · Issue 57, Nov/Dec 2010 · pp. 48–50

Products mentioned: Nikon D3, Subal Housing, INON Z240

Strobe positioning is one area of underwater photography that is rarely touched upon in manuals on tutorials. To me it is just as important as the camera and strobe power settings. The direction of the light allows the emotional content to be expressed in the photo. As photographers we are capturing the light, and as underwater photographers we are often creating that light, so knowledge of how to place your strobes is essential. For this article I would like to illustrate one technique that I use quite regularly that works in difficult lighting situations. I can’t claim the technique as mine, it was taught to me by Alex Mustard on a Red Sea workshop last year, but I will claim the name: even Alex calls it the “rabbit ears”. The technique is best used in dark areas where you want to cast light over a distance, deep into the frame, and yet stop the strobes from burning out the foreground.…