The idea for this shot has been around for a while, I just needed the time and a subject. Colm Dowling, an up and coming swimmer from WIT agreed to pose for this particular shot. The plan was to water-proof an SB-800 under the water and fire it with a radio control. At the same time, I decided (last minute) to include a backlight. There was so much to take into consideration with the shot that something unexpected had to happen. I needed to make sure the swimmer rose from the water at a precise location, the focus had to be nailed, the lights had to be balanced and positioned perfectly, would the background be too bright, what ISO to use etc. As it turned out the submerged flash would not trigger because of the density of the water. It would only work about 12 inches down so that meant aquiring a volunteer to hold it in position. The focus was extremly tricky too. I switched on the predictive focus and even that was too sensitive (instead it chose to focus on the water splashing in front of Colm). So this is what we ended up with ..    not a bad effort but not exactly what I wanted either. I have aquired a 10 mtr flash sync cable and an opaque lunchbox! That should do the trick, I’m going to try again next week. Watch this space.

(good luck to Colm on the 23^rd of July where is in qualifying for the European SC Championships 2009 which will be held in Istanbul, Turkey in December)