C&C : Photos from the Belize Aggressor - May 2012

[charlesml3]

Gang,

Here are some of my shots from a week aboard the Belize Aggressor.

Belize 2012 - a set on Flickr

Specifics:

- Canon G12
- Ikelite Housing
- Ikelite DS-161 Strobe
- EXIF Data is enabled on flickr

I'd love to get your feedback. Especially if someone can provide : "How to get a great photo of a Juvenile Spotted Drum."

-Charles

 

[Larry C]

Beautiful pics.

 

[Interceptor121]

Nice macro in Belize! No big fish but the small critters make up for it

How were the conditions and the diving off the aggressor?

Are those shots taken in aperture priority (they all show F6.3 at 1/60 ISO 200)?

 

[charlesml3]

Yep, all Aperture Priority. I really have to keep the Aperture up around f/6.3 or so to get any DOF. It just gets so shallow with macro shots. Most shots are at ISO 200. I adjust ISO to move the shutter speed up or down to get the blue in the background.

The Aggressor is top-notch. This was my 5th liveaboard, 3rd with Aggressor. I love diving with them.

 

[chile7236]

great pics. love the color.

 

[drrich2]

I'm used to collections like that featuring 2 or 3 really good shots; those were uniformly impressive. For sheer 'If that were mine, I'd hang it on my wall' appeal, the squid shot & the 2 hermit crab shots were quite striking.

Richard.

 

[Interceptor121]

Yep, all Aperture Priority. I really have to keep the Aperture up around f/6.3 or so to get any DOF. It just gets so shallow with macro shots. Most shots are at ISO 200. I adjust ISO to move the shutter speed up or down to get the blue in the background.

The Aggressor is top-notch. This was my 5th liveaboard, 3rd with Aggressor. I love diving with them.

Good to know about aggressor. Changing the ISO on a Canon will do nothing to the shutter speed. The camera always sets it based on multiple of the focal length and the distance and the detected movement of the subject. In fact all your photos are at 1/60 except a few (Did you shoot the Jawfish in manual or the camera understood it was moving) giving blue background in all cases.

You have great subjects that luckily were mostly static, I would try using the camera in manual and increasing shutter speeds to 1/500 and more to isolate subject and get a black background instead of blue, I think you will need to set your strobe to manual as at more than 1/250 TTL might not work with it

I would try that also with the spotted drum as there is a little bit of motion blur in that picture of course shutter lag is always an issue alternatively set the video light and shoot continuous at 1/250 with flash off could be an idea. Those things are hard to get and having black markings make it difficult to expose properly as the black requires slow shutter speed to illuminate and the white gets spikes!
Great shots and great trip makes me reconsider the caribbeans

 

[deeper thoughts]

very nice

 

[charlesml3]

Changing the ISO on a Canon will do nothing to the shutter speed. The camera always sets it based on multiple of the focal length and the distance and the detected movement of the subject.​

I don't understand how this can be true. I have the Aperture locked at f/6.3 and the ISO locked at ISO 200. The camera is picking the shutter speed and it can pick anything up to the sync speed of the strobe. If it's picking 1/60 for a given shot and I change the ISO to 400, then the shutter speed HAS to speed up to make up the difference. It should go to 1/125 if nothing else changes.

I may have to go "all manual" at some point but I'm still pretty new at UW Photography. TTL is working pretty good for me right now but I have a lot to learn.

Thanks!

 

[Interceptor121]

Hi there
What you say is only true when you are either with flash off or in manual mode
When in av or tv mode the camera assumes that the strobe will correct the exposure up to 3 fstop so it will not do a thing
It took me time to work it out myself but sadly this is what happens
When the flash then fires in TTL it makes the 1/60 right by shutting off very quickly

Try on land it works the same way

If instead you are in manual or with the flash off the camera will meter assuming there is no extra light so it will move in 1/3 increments to achieve correct exposure

Mind blowing! Uh