Photo feedback requested.

[ConchyJoe]

Hey folks,

Just got back from St. Lucia. Had a relaxing time, and shot everything in full manual mode with the exception of focus.

I have very leathery skin, so any feedback is appreciated.

I am shooting Oly C-5000z with Oly housing and Sealife strobe with optical.

I am at the point of moving on to another outfit, and have a post elsewhere on that.

Have a great week!

Diving\ Photos :: St. Lucia

 

[lagerfran]

Hi, I have been shooting for over 15 years. One thing that many new photographers do is take photos down on the subject. That is the way we dive, so it seems right -- try next time to get level with the fish, eye to eye and take a shot that's from the side - more pleasing. Also, did you do a white balance? Check your camera - if possible it helps immensly with the colors.

 

[aodiver]

I agree with Lagerfran on the white balance and shooting angle - Photo instructor always told me "no fish butts" - I also "had" sealife strobe - o.k. I still have it ( I flooded the camera it came with) but just purchased Inon for SP-350/OLY PT-030 - seems that Sealife strobes have issues with camera flash sync - optic cord or just as slave - suggest you look at getting a better strobe. Most photos have decent content - just need to get closer if using the Sealife strobe and watch for recycle time - can be lengthly - as alot of your photos look as if your strobe did not go off - if you were doing repetative shots

 

[lagerfran]

I haven't tried this before but here goes: this is one my recent photos, just to show you getting close, and the angle of the photo. I'm still playing with a new strobe so there is a slight shadow on the one side.

 

[alcina]

It would be most helpful if you could choose a few of your favourites or those you want C&C on and put them in a thread - sometimes ppl (I'm one) don't have much time to follow links etc so you'll likely get more feedback doing it that way.

Glad you had a good time.

 

[gary-ramey]

yes to all the above. Shooting down often causes your subject to get lost in the mosaic of the multicolored bottom. In some cases, like the worm shot, getting closer would have been the idea. Your camera has a great macro mode. When I used my P&S olympus camera I hardly ever took it out of regular macro. Then I could get up close and personal with the sea critters. Get close solves another issue as well, it removes water from between you and the subject. This means less harsh shadows and it makes better use of available lighting. Get close, shoot up, or at least level, then...composition, composition, composition! Try to either fill the whole frame with your subject. There's a whole days worth of reading on the rule of 3rds.

 

[LekicINC]

if you using the sealife strobe, you should be able to get better color than you got, even without manually white balancing. For instance this picture: Diving\ Photos :: St. Lucia :: PA160219 you should be able to get better color with your setup. The sealife strobes have fine power for a macro subject like the lizardfish? in the picture. I only say that because i am also using a oly point and shoot with the sealife strobe and got decent color. My pictures did not come out as good as i hoped, but still got some more color. In my humble opinion, it was getting closer and then when i thought i was too close, i got even closer. here is an example.
Not a great picture, but my personal best. There was NO white balancing done here, and all light came from the sealife strobe. I agree Alcina, maybe pick a few and post them directly in the post?

 

[AbyssalPlains]

Thanks for sharing! Nice shots - some really nice, some so-so. My overall impression is your pics may benefit from getting closer - much closer - and from taking a little more time to compose. For example, 160208 with the three arrow crabs is a fantastic motif, but it looks as if you may have shot it from the "convencience angle" you happened to be in when you found it, and then moved on. Please keep in mind that I have no way of knowing - all I can do is go by how the pic looks to me, so please no offense! My photos started to improve a lot when I started laying down on the sand (only in places where there is nothing to destroy, of course) and really spent time composing and shooting different angles, different distances, different compositions, adjusting strobes etc. This is time-consuming, of course (sometimes I spend 10 minutes on one subject) but it's worth it in the end, I think, because the result is often 30 frames of a subject that are so-so and one that really rocks. On my last dive, I concentrated on one single motif (little blennies that live between sea urchin spines) and dedicated the entire dive to those little guys. I shot about 100 pics and only two of them I really love. To me that's worth it.

 

[jlyle]

Here's the quick answer to your question:

As others have said, "get close."

When you think you are close enough, get closer.

Shoot up (if possible).

Rule of thirds. (Buy Jim Church's book on composition!)

Shoot portrait as much as you can (think magazine cover).

Buy a better strobe (or two). You can never have too much light, underwater.

Get close.

Shoot until your finger bleeds, delete later.