North Carolina - C&C

[Scotttyd]

I was comparing some of sand tiger pics from here in North Carolina, all were taken with the same wideangle lense, nikon p5100. The first one was with a ikelite AF35 strobe, the others with an inon z240.

This is from last year

I used a f-stop of 3.6, ISO 100 shutter speed of 1/125. It was suggested to try to use a smaller f-stop to get more definition in the picture. This year I was on the same wreck and tried to do this. These pics all have higher f-stops of around 7 (the limit of my camera). I was able to get more definition/crispness, but in order to do this I had to bump up the iso to 200 with the same shutter speed. The pics are a tad grainy. What can I do to get a crisper picture. I attached a picture that another diver on the same wreck took - albeit with a much more advanced DSLR - what tips/adjustments are there that I could do to improve mine?

 

[Scotttyd]

Also, I always upload full resolution pics to photobucket so my friends/family can print them off, but how do to post it in a way so that it does not fill up the entire computer screen- also they look better when they are not blown up so much!

 

[Scotttyd]

nobody wants to tell me how much my pics suck?

 

[101recon]

If anyone wants bad pics,I'll post some of mine.

Nice pics Scotty.

 

[bvanant]

If the DSLR pic is the last one, you see that the exposure of the shark is not much different than the exposure in the second pic. What you do see is that the foreground of the pic is lit very well with a lot of the small fish very well lit and a few even overexposed. To me the 4th pic is just a reminder that composition matters and focusing the frame on the small guys highlights the shark. The only real answer is to use really big strobes and get really close.
Bill

 

[Dave C]

You are being way too hard on yourself. Personally, I like your third and fourth pics better than the other guys! They are cool photos and really give you the feeling of what it was like to be there.

 

[Larry C]

Might try a compromise on the f-stop instead of maxing it out, keep the ISO down and cut down the shutter speed, using the strobe to stop the action. You did a real nice job capturing the baitfish and the shark looks much better than the first one which is kind of washed out.