Cathedral light

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Cathedral light and radial light are terms often used to describe the same effect.
Cathedral light takes its name from the effect of sunlight bursting through high stained-glass windows in a diagonal orientation. The camera remains in a shaded area whilst observing the shafts of light from close by. An example of cathedral light is when you see the light penetrate a shallow cave system. The sunbeams contrast dramatically with the dark walls. If you point your camera into the sunbeams towards the surface, you cannot help but include the sun ball.

• Move out of the light, remain in the shade but aim your camera back towards the sunbeams.
• Cathedral light is accentuated when the beams are composed against a dark coloured background such as a cave wall or just inside a wreck.
• Avoid shooting directly into the sun ball. Hide it behind a secondary subject like the reef or tilt your camera downwards if it suits the composition.
• Use a wide angle lens.
• The time of day is important. I have found that around midday between 11am and 1pm is ideal as the sun is high in the sky and the beams are most accentuated.
• These cathedral beams of light are rare and often go unnoticed so take every opportunity when a chance occurs.
• I’ll reiterate - my best tip is to keep myself and my camera in the shade and shoot into the light.

Fig 1. It’s not just caves where cathedral light is present. Wrecks offer some excellent possibilities as long as you can dive them around midday. The Chrisoula K wreck at Abu Nuhas in the Red Sea has several safe and easy swim-throughs where cathedral light is easy to practice. F5.6 at 1/20th sec, ISO 200, Nikon D300 with a Tokina 10-17mm lens

Fig 2 I love to shoot this dramatic light and my favourite photo-dive site for this is Dangerous Reef, St John’s in the southern Red Sea. There is a two-four hour window of opportunities between the hours of 11am and 2pm when the sun is high enough to capture cathedral light in all its glory. Unlike dapple light, cathedral is not depth dependent. The sandy floors of these swim throughs are between 6m and 10m. Take no notice of the name ‘dangerous’. These are not caves as such but narrow shallow passages which are open. F5.6 at 1/30th sec, ISO 200, natural light, 10.5mm fisheye lens, Nikon D300

Fig 3. Keep it simple and remember - We don’t need a flash gun to capture this light! It’s just a combination of shutter speed and aperture. If I was to guess the optimum settings for this I would start with F5.6 at 1/30th sec on 200 ISO and work from there. In this image I have chosen a single shaft of light pervading the roof of a Red Sea swim-through with a small mound of rocks as the main (and very simple) focal point.
F4.8 at 1/15th sec, ISO 200, natural light, same camera and lens as fig 2

fig 4. This quality of light is also very suitable for compact cameras. In this shot Sylvia has used full Auto mode with her Fuji FinePix F40 fd in a Fuji Finepix housing. Settings were F2.8 at 1/90th sec, ISO 200 on the 8mm end of her internal zoom lens.