electric ray

[Jim Ernst]

i have a picture of what i THINK is an electric ray in my gallery, i think i was once again to close to the subject, can this picture be fixed and or any suggestions or comments on what i did wrong to make it seem ,bright? camera is a sea life dc310 pro kit and i am still learning to use it as i was using a CHEAP $50 35mm

 

[jlyle]

Nope, it's a thornback ray (Platyrhinoides triseriata).

All the back scatter is due to having the strobe/flash too near the camera's lens. Move the strobe as far from the camera as possible and then light the subject with the edge of the light cone - don't point the strobe at the subject.

The image could be photoshopped, but it would take a lot of work.

Did you notice the moon snail egg case beside the ray?

 

[Ann Marie]

I agree, thornback ray.



Here is a picture of a Pacific Electric Ray that I took off Catalina (I think). Flash didn't fire so it is a little green.

 

[Jim Ernst]

Nope, it's a thornback ray (Platyrhinoides triseriata).

All the back scatter is due to having the strobe/flash too near the camera's lens. Move the strobe as far from the camera as possible and then light the subject with the edge of the light cone - don't point the strobe at the subject.

The image could be photoshopped, but it would take a lot of work.

Did you notice the moon snail egg case beside the ray?

sorry , i am not sure that i understand were to have the strob, i had it stright up and pointing forward, are you saying to move it front to back or side to side, i am lost , like allways, lol, no i did not see that i will look at it, i would like to see if i can get it DR UP though it is the one and only so far, thanks for your help!!

 

[MaxBottomtime]

It is a Thornback Ray. They are relatively harmless, unless you step on one. They're usuall found between the ridges of sand near shore. I didn't clean up the backscatter, but made a few adjustments. Check out Gilligan's post about ambient light digital photography. http://www.scubaboard.com/showthread.php?t=81341
Using the internal flash on the camera or a strobe placed too close to the lens will cause the backscatter.

 

[jlyle]

Do you have a picture of your strobe? If your strobe is on an arm - move it as far from the camera as it will go and then point it as shown in the following link:
http://www.kelpfish.net/tip_edge_light.htm

If you're using the camera's flash - you don't have the option. The way to avoid backscatter is to dive warm,clear water.

 

[MaxBottomtime]

I agree, thornback ray.



Here is a picture of a Pacific Electric Ray that I took off Catalina (I think). Flash didn't fire so it is a little green.

Since I'm playing around on Photoshop right now, here's a little Birthday present for you.

 

[Ishie]

Nice Ike 125s! That's gotta be a heavy load going into the water.

I have the single 50, and I'm still working on strobe placement. A lot of times it seems that when I position the strobe away, I miss the subject entirely and just get a black picture. When I'm closer, I get things like the umbrella crab (which I'm actually happy with despite it being a flawed picture), where half the subject is lit.

I'm having considerable trouble getting the proper exposure though. I've been positioning the strobe to reduce backscatter, but since I do a lot of macro, I white out my pictures fairly frequently. I've got the aperture at f8, but maybe I need to increase the shutter speed...

 

[Ann Marie]

Since I'm playing around on Photoshop right now, here's a little Birthday present for you.

Thanks! I haven't quite figured out how to take the green out with photoshop yet (important thing to know in So Cal too!).

I'm going to change my desktop picture to that right now!

 

[SuPrBuGmAn]

The button on your housing, that normally controls the LCD screen, can be used to control the lighting in the picture. Toggling through it will get you from Macro, normal, to full lighting. I'm not sure if it just increases shutter spead or actually reduces flash intensity.

It can help, its one of the only options you have for controling settings on that camera...

The strobe arm isn't long, so you aren't gonna get it too much further from the camera. It'll help if you don't point the strobe directly at the subject, try to use the periphial light instead of the a direct hit.