it came out, been trying to do this

[Jim Ernst]

this picture came out, i have been trying to shoot some shots in the right settings to have a black background and a great subject, so i shot this eel in 5.0-1/60 and it came out . but now i cant figure out what i did right!! so as dumb as it may sound i need some help in doing this again. so come on photographers help me on this. please, tell me what i did that made this work if you can!!! thanks so much for the help!!!

 

[jonix]

guessing: you used your dive light? from the right of the eel going up?
exif saying you didn't use flash hence my guess.

i had pics similar to these when i still didn't know how to shoot with flash at night...like you i don't know what i did right

 

[Jim Ernst]

guessing: you used your dive light? from the right of the eel going up?
exif saying you didn't use flash hence my guess.

i had pics similar to these when i still didn't know how to shoot with flash at night...like you i don't know what i did right

jonix, i cant say, i dont remember if this was a night dive or not, i truly dont remember seeing an eel on any of my night dives in the PI, paul was a GREAT guide, but i THINK, (not sure) this was a day dive , i could be VERY wrong!!!

 

[alcina]

He looks like he's in a hole of some kind. The shadow created by the overhang is helping with your background as your settings are no where near fast enough for black backgrounds during the day.

You may also be just the right distance away for your flash - closer and the flash is going to start illuminating the background.

Looks like what you did that time worked very well for those circumstances!

If you are going to go for the black in brighter conditions (whether broad daylight or out in the open) you'll need to crank that shutter up a bit more. The nice thing about working with only the internal flash in this situation is that it isn't as broad as most strobes and will let you use settings that you might not get away with otherwise

Very nice shot

 

[Jim Ernst]

He looks like he's in a hole of some kind. The shadow created by the overhang is helping with your background as your settings are no where near fast enough for black backgrounds during the day.

You may also be just the right distance away for your flash - closer and the flash is going to start illuminating the background.

Looks like what you did that time worked very well for those circumstances!

If you are going to go for the black in brighter conditions (whether broad daylight or out in the open) you'll need to crank that shutter up a bit more. The nice thing about working with only the internal flash in this situation is that it isn't as broad as most strobes and will let you use settings that you might not get away with otherwise

Very nice shot

thank you , the really funny thing is(unless it didnt fire) i was using an ike-lite ds-125 strobe, so i guess i got lucky???

 

[alcina]

Hmmm...or had your strobe power down or had your strobe well away from the subject or at just the right angle...

1/60 is just so low...I don't think I've ever used that slow of a shutter speed uw before Theoretically with that shutter (and a fairly open aperture) your background should be light.

 

[RonFrank]

this picture came out, i have been trying to shoot some shots in the right settings to have a black background and a great subject, so i shot this eel in 5.0-1/60 and it came out . but now i cant figure out what i did right!!

Basically to create a black background you need a primary light source that is 4 stops or greater than the ambiant light. So if the ambiant light reading was ISO 200, shutter 1/125 at f2.8 setting the camera at ISO 50 at 1/125 at f5.6 and setting the flash at f5.6 ISO 50 should produce a black background (actually +3 stops MIGHT be enough).

The tricky part of course is the composition. If any of the background is within strobe range, then the background will be exposued by the stobe. So one must isolate the subject against open water, or a background that is far enough away so that the stobe is not lighting it.

In this shot it looks like the fact that you filled the frame with the eel head, and shot at an angle to eliminate the background, plus overpowering the ambiant light with the stobe all worked well to produce the results you wanted.

Nice shot, and now you have a few explainations, you can learn to do this on a more regular basis if desired. I would suggest however that showing creatures in their environment is a strong composition, so while having the black background maybe dramatic, it's certainly worth shooting subject like this more than one way.

 

[Cacia]

Jim, I made the same "mistake" shooting program. I noticed my settings the same and the depth of field on mine is not optimal.... His neck is sharp but his nose is blurry.

5.6 (1/60)

 

[RonFrank]

Jim, I made the same "mistake" shooting program. I noticed my settings the same and the depth of field on mine is not optimal.... His neck is sharp but his nose is blurry.

5.6 (1/60)

Hey Catherine,

This is not a mistake in exposure (although you need to get OUT of program mode, if you need help, PM me, I'm happy to get you there). This looks more like a longer focal length lens with not enough aperture, so an aperture error made by that dumb camera!

You also missed the focus (looks like on the neck behind the eyes). Always focus on the eyes. If nothing else is in focus but the eyes, then the shot might be OK. If the eyes are OOF, the shot is generally unusable.

I'm betting you were using the 105mm macro (which is 35mm EQ to a 152mm). Remember the longer the focal lengh, the less DOF. So for shooting an eel with a lens like the 105mm you will want to either get the subject in line with the focal plane (shoot a profile), or use a LOT more DOF. However even at f16 (which starts pushing defraction limits on most DSLR's) you still may not have enough DOF to get edge to edge sharpness.

Another thought is that hyperfocal distances increase when the subject (focal point) is farther away from the lens. So backing up a bit would help even if the composition you chose is very good.

So the biggest questions remains... do eels have necks!

 

[Cacia]

got it, thanks so much! This was taken a while back... am struggling a bit with changing the settings underwater, in the Ikelite housing. My housing may need to be adjusted as the dials are not grabbing these days. Also, I notice not having the camera screwed down very tight on the base will do this...

Now, I understand your comment about shooting a profile, Less dimensional, but what do you mean by "use more DOF?" Yes, it was the 105 mm.

Jim, what lense did you use?...just trying to learn to "see" the differences. Jim, I sympathize, I like these two but could not repeat it if my life was on the line. I notice the first one is also 1/60 5.0 shutter priority, I must have been feeling adventuresome! I am definitely trying to shoot manual now, I have been practicing topside a bit.


Jim, do you think your strobe was hitting your eel?