How to improve these DC1200 Pcitures?

[lox]

Good Day fellow Divers,
Bought a DC1200 elite kit before our recent trip to Turks and Caicos.
Got some decent shots however a lot could be better and would like your comments.
Note that a majority of the shots that lack contrast and color where taken a depths of 30-50 ft.. Most that turned out decent or good where taken along walls where the background is consistently dark.
All shots where taken with Strobe and Auto setting's. None of the photo's have been manipulated and where uploaded straight off the SD card. Also most of the video was not meant to be shot
I'll get around to cleaning up the dups and garbage as time permits. There are a lot of shots so I've uploaded them to Flickr.
Flickr: mochorm's Photostream
Thanks for your input!

 

[a22shady]

Have the same camera, One thing I noticed is that if you use the Manual white Balance it will help out a lot with pictures. It is very easy to set but if you need to reset each time you move depths. If I typically go up or down 10' Ill re do it. It only takes a min. Another thing is to photoshop the pics after your done taking them off camera.

 

[lox]

Have the same camera, One thing I noticed is that if you use the Manual white Balance it will help out a lot with pictures. It is very easy to set but if you need to reset each time you move depths. If I typically go up or down 10' Ill re do it. It only takes a min. Another thing is to photoshop the pics after your done taking them off camera.

White balance should not matter when using the flash as the flash sets it.
But that may be why some of the shallower pics didin't turn out as well, because the flash didn't really contribute to the overall light and hence no color correction !?

Maybe I'll add some filtering with Adobe Elements and see what happens.

Thanks

 

[ShakaZulu]

Need more than just white balance...the photographer probably needs to do an underwater course...

Underwater Photography Guide

 

[lox]

Hey, I just finished my Underwater Photography specialty

I believe the white balance was the main issue do to the camera being set for a flash when one wasn't really needed.
No color correction due to the system being set for flash was the main culprit.
Added some color filters to some of the pictures taken at shallow depths and they look MUCH better.

Or do you think I way off base here ?

 

[a22shady]

I used the Flash but also set the manual white balance with it. I know its Auto but you can still choose to set it. I have pics posted that I have took with the camera while diving here in the North east Less than 30' Viz some are using Manual w/ with out flash some wide angle lens This was my first couple times with camera and just playing with settings.

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=all&ppuser=125350

 

[gustele]

Hi Iox. As you said you had your camera on Auto and all your pictures were taken with a strobe. I had hoped to be able to look at the EXIF-data of the pictures to see what exposure and aperture was used but Flickr apparently doesn't show these data.
My guess is that in the shallow shots the flash didn't provide sufficient light to be of influence. The white balance set by the strobe is wrong for the ambient light resulting in greenish pictures. For the shots taken at depth most are good. The strobe was the dominant light source. But even then there are differences. Take a look at the pictures PICT0424 and PICT0423. The first one is green, the second one has at least parts with color. It shows that the strobe was not properly positioned and also that the Auto exposure results in unpredictable results. My advice: if you work with a strobe you need to shoot on manual or at least on Aperture priority so that the aperture is correct for the distance to the subject and the strength of your strobe (guidenumber under water). This is something that should have been covered in the Underwater Photography Specialty.
Secondly: images from a digital camera almost always need some post-processing in which you correct for exposure, lack of contrast, color, unwanted artifacts and noise and possibly add some sharpening.
And finally: practice, practice, practice! Have fun; this is a lifelong hobby.

 

[Coralcop]

Lox, your pics look pretty good. The only way to improve what you've already taken is tweaking with photoshop or a post editing program. For future photos what I learned in my uw photo class was three main rules: Get close (anything past 8 feet will not be illuminated by a flash, no matter how powerful), stay low (looking down on a fish or coral doesnt look natural), and shoot up (from a slightly upward angle to almost vertical). There are a million small techniques you'll learn such as strobe placement, not stirring silt, etc. Also, if you can get your hands on a good book and learn one style at a time. Start off with macro, then move to close focus, wide angle, etc. I look at every professional shot in magazines, and online and try to dissect them. I am looking for strobe placement, framing, distance, depth of field, subject, natural lighting and contrast, then try to figure out how I could duplicate that. I'm not a pro, but my photos have gotten better over the years.

 

[lox]

Hi Iox. As you said you had your camera on Auto and all your pictures were taken with a strobe. I had hoped to be able to look at the EXIF-data of the pictures to see what exposure and aperture was used but Flickr apparently doesn't show these data.
My guess is that in the shallow shots the flash didn't provide sufficient light to be of influence. The white balance set by the strobe is wrong for the ambient light resulting in greenish pictures. For the shots taken at depth most are good. The strobe was the dominant light source. But even then there are differences. Take a look at the pictures PICT0424 and PICT0423. The first one is green, the second one has at least parts with color. It shows that the strobe was not properly positioned and also that the Auto exposure results in unpredictable results. My advice: if you work with a strobe you need to shoot on manual or at least on Aperture priority so that the aperture is correct for the distance to the subject and the strength of your strobe (guidenumber under water). This is something that should have been covered in the Underwater Photography Specialty.
Secondly: images from a digital camera almost always need some post-processing in which you correct for exposure, lack of contrast, color, unwanted artifacts and noise and possibly add some sharpening.
And finally: practice, practice, practice! Have fun; this is a lifelong hobby.

Thanks for the comments my Scuba friends!

gustele, some astute observations. What I think happened with that shot was the flash did not charge before the second shot (7sec later) was taken.
Manual may work better however the camera is very limited in it's aperture range so I'm not sure it would have helped as almost every shot the aperture is wide open. I could up the ISO setting but I don't want the resulting grainy look.

But obviously I have some work to do, it pains me to be so far from the ocean and not be able to jump in and just play around with camera more!! Post processing will help a lot as evidenced by the shot of the Grouper with the Trumpet fish on its back. All I did with that shot was take the (blue) cast away and it looks much better.

 

[EevelMonkee]

Nice photos lox. For shots >50ft, if you have decent natural light (sunny day and decent vis), I would try using the DC1200 without the strobe and the auto settings on underwater/diving/without external strobe. This will add a digital red filter that should eliminate the blue background that's in some of your pics. I shared some of my experiences with the DC1200, including some photo examples here: Diving Addiction: More about the Sealife DC1200