Beast has switched to Digital!

[Dee]

Beast didn't have to work today after all so we spent most of the day at the lake. He's been getting used to his new digital all week and was really looking forward to trying it out u/w.

Wisely, he made the maiden dive with no camera in the housing. No problems. So the next dive he was ready to go. I'm really proud of his results. Like the rest of us he had lots to get used to, shutter lag and hard to see in shallow water LCD screen. But every dive he got better than the last. What else can any of us ask for?!?!

Here's a couple of his first digital results using P mode. The first shows the color of the water in mid-column. The second has only had the haze removed in PS to show how clear it really is in the shallows where the babies are.

Oly C-3040/PT-010 housing

 

[crab]

It looks like he used no flash for the first shot. Is that the case? I have found that wide vegetation shots work out much better (depending on the ambient light) with the flash turned off. Otherwise, I end up with beautiful starry backscatter shot. I really need a strobe...

 

[Dee]

No, he was using the internal flash in all the shots. That first one was taken in the center of the lake on an old roadbed where most divers seldom go, so there wasn't any silt kicked up...just green water.

The second one has been tweaked a bit. The students and rototillers keep the silt stirred up around the edges of the lake. So you get this overall haze in photo rather than the spots and blotches usually known as backscatter. Here's the untouched version which is more what we actually see, only a bit clearer!

 

[TimIng]

Hey Dee that's some tweaking - any guidance on how it was done?

 

[Dee]

TimIng once bubbled...
Hey Dee that's some tweaking - any guidance on how it was done?

In Photoshop Elements, one adjustment with Auto Levels. Auto adjustments don't always work and you can get good results with the brightness/contrast controls.

No color changes, sharpening, etc. was used.

 

[crab]

It's amazing sometimes what it can do to an otherwise hopeless picture!

 

[docmartin]

yes autolevels is the great saviour, especially for underwater pix. it is truly amazing what it can do to pictures that look like they are nothing but digital trash. now if there were a little autolevels button on my dive mask that would be even better.

 

[TimIng]

thats impressive result for a one click solution - I could do with that for a lot of my landside photies as well!

Looks like I have to hold od a copy of Elements and give it a whirl.

Thanks guys.

Tim

 

[TedJ]

You can get it at Costco or Sam's Club at a good price with a rebate and Amazon had it for a while with two rebates but I don't know if they still do. Very good package. does much of what Photoshop does.

 

[SubMariner]

Young Skywalker!

We have him now, Dee...

BTW, now Pearce is talking about a 5050 in an Ikelite housing.

Will this madness never end????

~SubMariner~