A Friday phone call from a friend had me packing my gear and heading to the oil rigs on Saturday morning. I could never pass on the chance to dive the rigs! 

Testing new gear is always fun, especially when it works. Today I had a chance to test the new cutout clamps from ultralight, The new 8K torch from Kraken Sports and the new Sea and Sea YS-D3 Mark 2 strobes.

The local oil platforms in Socal. Ellen, Elly and Eureka, regarded as "The Rigs" to local divers, are active, oil producing and processing facilities just a few miles offshore in the San Pedro escarpment. The Pillars, beams and crossmembers that supports these bohemoth megastructures have become an incredible habitat for fish, sea lions and other marine life. From the waterline the rigs are all business. Loud with banging and hissing, pipes banging, catwalks, burn off valves with flames, truly an un-natural and industrial site above water.

Map of the oil platforms in the Southern California area

All of the dives are performed live with the boat backing as close as possible allowing divers to jump in and swim into the underbelly of the beast. The industrial noises are joined by barking sea lions which you can hear once the boat is close enough.

Ellen and Elly are an oasis in a desert of open water

Swells rise and fall around the pilings creating vertical surge as well as horizontal, the constant movement around the pilings can make for a tough dive so be ready for a rodeo.

Rows of bit guides

Man and industry put the rigs here but nature is trying to claim them with growth of all different varieties. The platforms are somewhat antiquated and many are scheduled for removal but what then? The argument being that the benefit of leaving the structures in place far outweighs those of removing them. One look at these structures underwater and its easy to see that it might be better to leave them. 

Colorful cup corals

Underwater the hardscape of the rigs are alive and thriving with life. Often surgy, the current moves through the rigs carrying all kinds of organisms that sticks to the supports under the structure. The growth recruits more animals, creating a thriving secondary habitat for wildlife. Cup corals, muscles, scallops, giant sea stars and anemones, even colorful brittle stars, carpet everything. Like an oasis in the open ocean, these man made structures are vertical reefs pushing up from the deep providing shelter for rockfish and more.

Colorful Anemone's and brittle stars

A bright orange Damsel fish, caring for her eggs

Plumose anemone-Metridium

At around the 100 foot mark the alabaster white colored plumose anemones can be found growing amidst the cup corals. The white detail is tricky to expose while maintaining a bright background. Im using Sea and Sea YS-D3 strobes with domed diffusers which helps to even out the exposure for this. Using a low powered strobe flash and slow shutter speed helps to retain decent lighting for both.

Salp chain drifting through the structure of Elly

Static lighting using the Kraken 8k WRGBU video light

I used static lighting on dive 3 to shoot this really large sea star that was attached to the piling. The white balance of the Kraken 8K torch is spot on. 

Cabazon at rest, Static lighting using the kraken 8K WRGBU video light

Cabazons can get enormous heads resembling pitbulls and often times found on eggs. They are a subject that I seek out whenever i'm diving the rigs. 

A Cabazon in. defensive posture-Sea and Sea strobes

Dive Boat Magician

I highly recommend diving the oil rigs whenever the chance arrises. The unique habitat of hard and soft scape created by nature and man have never married together as well as they do here.

Photography by definition means "capturing durable images using light". Lighting truly is everything in ALL forms of photography regardless of wildlife, studio, landscape or any of the other million styles of shooting, if your lighting is flat, the end result will be flat as well, no matter what your subject is.

In my career i've learned to experiment heavily with lighting, mainly as a way of challenging myself to try something different, not just to be different but to actually make something that is unique in both style and technique. To tempt the outcome of an image by taking it to the extreme, then pulling back slightly. If you've ever been in one of my workshops then you know that i tend to wax on about the ability of our cameras. The cameras of today are incredibly powerful instruments that can control light in way's that allows the shooter to push the envelope further than we ever could using film. Having the simple ability to shoot hundreds of photos on a single dive (just sayin') and being able to review them instantly, has certainly shortened the learning curve.

Managing light can be done in several ways underwater. Strobe flash, strobe angle, beam pattern, using torches, snoots, off camera lighting, color gels and more. Understanding light also means understanding water quality and sunlight and both of their effects on image making. Couple all of that with our cameras technical abilities and what we have is an unlimited supply of creative prowess right at our fingertips. 

Its no secret that im a fan of snoots. Ive been using snoots in my photography for years and have gained alot of insight on the various ways to use them. One of my favorite methods for snoot lighting is to use it off camera. Thats right, by removing it from my camera and hand holding it. By doing this, i can concentrate on composition and adjust the lighting very quickly, almost like painting. 

Blenny-Rim lighting using Subsea Fiber optic snoot

Rim lighting and backlighting are relative to creating a silhouette. My mentor, Joe Liburdi was a master of rim lighting using off camera pop flash, a true master. For me, i feel this style engages the viewer in a way that invites them into the image by thinking about it. Rim lighting can be a bit tricky so selecting the right subjects is half of the battle. I look for subjects that have strong shape recognition and are calm enough to work with. 

Rim lit Ambon scorpionfish- Sea and Sea strobe | Subsea fiber optic snoot

Once you've located a subject that will allow you to work with it, think about the shot and stay with it. For effective rim or backlighting there are several components that must come together,

1. The angle of the light should rake across the subject gently.
2. The flash beam needs to be controlled- No sloppy lighting!
3. Push your ISO up to allow for the highlights to pop through
4. Increasing your F-stop to darken the foreground 

Hairy Shrimp- Backlit using the Subsea fiber optic snoot

In the image above, you can see the snoot tip and its proximity to the subject. One of the issues that i discovered by this style of shooting is the shadow casted by strong directional lighting. This isn't always a bad thing except when it effects critical areas in an image. For me, this image receives a fail, although it is a fun facebook post and a good talking point. I also liked the way the snoot tip played into this image so i decided to keep it in. Sometimes mistakes can lead to fun image making.

Miamira alleni- 1 YSD2-J strobe

Not every subject makes for good backlighting either, trust me i've tried everything including rocks. Ive found, subjects that are compressed or slightly translucent make excellent subjects for x-ray style backlighting. 

Smoky the frog- Backlighting and snoot with the Retra LSD

Teaching myself how to rim light subjects led me to learn how to be a sharp shooter using a snoot. I began lighting subjects with what i like to call "The Works". Which is basically using more than one light source to give a subject dimension. Using a torch to backlight my subject, basically creating a silhouette then filling in the shadow in the foreground.

One of the best subject's to begin this path of lighting on is a sea horse, due to its shape and compressed body type. Seahorses can be shy but for me, they are actually tough to shoot. When i say tough to shoot, i don't mean snapping off a photo and swimming away. I mean to shoot them in way that is artistic and compelling.

Backlit seahorse- Kraken snoot torch V2

  Angle the torch and position yourself in a way that allows you to benefit from the light while avoiding the direct beam. And remember not to cook the little guy while your attempting to backlight 'em!

Taking it to the extreme- Backlighting with color gels. Kraken Snoot torch V2

Backlighting and snoot with the Retra LSD

These are just a few examples of what we can do with our camera and some unorthodox lighting methods. Its important to remember that failure is the birth place for the drive to succeed. So get out there and make some great photos already!

Special thanks to Crystal Blue Resort, 

All of these techniques and more are taught during our regular course of subject material during our workshops. New schedules will be posted soon so check back 

Workshops