Ontario pics - Juno

[boney]

This was from a couple of weeks ago in Lake Ontario.

I tried to do some adjustments in PS but sometimes when I fool around with the levels red seems to bleed in at the edges of some of the shots.... curious. Another strange thing is that the water looks blue? Usually the other lakes around here are green.

Please critique - I am using a 35mm auto everything camera.

http://hmandoda.tripod.com/juno.html

 

[SubMariner]

I see the usual "fine" vis in Ontario.

Do you have a separate strobe on your camera, or is it built in?

Basically, you need to get closer so that

1) what light your strobe puts out is useful
2) you get a better/closer shot of the subject

What PS levels are you playing with? If you're using auto adjust for all the levels, it will put a weird reddish cast in some places where it doesn't belong. In order to counteract that you have to do some selective colour correction. Or simply play with the contrast & brightness rather than all the levels.

FYI, I don't know why but fresh water always looks green u/w. I have shots from Vortex Springs in FL that look almost as green as some that I took in Toby.

Did you have fun on the dive? How long were you down?

 

[boney]

Hey Submariner,

I actually used an external strobe on this one for the first time. Although I don't think I had it setup quite right as I don't think it was going off properly with every shot. But further practice is definately required
I know what you mean by getting in close for a better shot, like the one of nails and stuff but a lot of times I would like to get the far shot to give non-divers a better feel for the u/w landscape, although I think that may be a pipe dream in fresh water.

As for PS, I typically used Autolevels or auto contrast as I am not 100% sure of what I am doing with all those functions. I'll have to give those suggestions a try out to get more familiar with the product.

As for the dive... I was actually pleasantly surprised! I didn't think it would be as good as it was, especially the prop! It wasn't the best wreck around but better than expected. We ended up doing two dives, each about 55 minutes at a max of 11ffw and the temps were about 55F.

 

[SubMariner]

that's what Pearce always says about u/w photog. And boy, is he ever right!

I remember coming home from one trip to the Red Sea with about 24 rolls of slide film (36 exp each). Basically, we shot about every roll down to the last. So you can imagine how many slides we sorted through. In the end there were 144 ones worthy of keeping, about 2 dozen of which we actually had scanned, printed as 8" x 10" photos, & put up on the wall.

actually used an external strobe on this one for the first time. Although I don't think I had it setup quite right as I don't think it was going off properly with every shot. But further practice is definately required

See aforementioned. And Pearce has been doing u/w photog for at least 10 years. I'm sure you'll get the hang of positioning the strobe to maximize the light & minimize the backscatter.

I know what you mean by getting in close for a better shot, like the one of nails and stuff but a lot of times I would like to get the far shot to give non-divers a better feel for the u/w landscape, although I think that may be a pipe dream in fresh water.

Wide angle shots only work if you have enough ambient light and vis, NEITHER of which you really get in fresh water. So I would definitely stick with the "up close & personal" shots.

You're on your way!