photos with "natural" lighting...

[chile7236]

to me, this looks like i shot in an aquarium...

do i just need to play with strobe power/positioning some more to make it look more natural?

 

[Interceptor121]

Strobe is for foreground, shutter speed for background
Are you talking about lack of shadows in this picture?

 

[chile7236]

probably a bad example of what i am asking...i'll try another example:

my photo

an acquaintance's (pure coincidence that we shot the same type of photo a week apart at different sites)
All sizes | Lionfish in the sun 4 July 2012 | Flickr - Photo Sharing!

 

[Interceptor121]

The picture of your friend is shot at 1/160 yours seems to be shot at 1/60, the blue of his water is darker
His picture is also darker in the foreground and has more depth of field it is shot at F22
How was your picture taken?

 

[smellzlikefish]

While both photos were taken aimed upwards, your friend's also includes a sunburst giving it that extra sense of depth and drama. In many instances, a slight underexposure can really add an extra oomph to the saturation.

 

[chile7236]

The picture of your friend is shot at 1/160 yours seems to be shot at 1/60, the blue of his water is darker
His picture is also darker in the foreground and has more depth of field it is shot at F22
How was your picture taken?

F13-1/100-ISO100

While both photos were taken aimed upwards, your friend's also includes a sunburst giving it that extra sense of depth and drama. In many instances, a slight underexposure can really add an extra oomph to the saturation.

the water where i took my shot at wasn't as clear that day but still very good. maybe with a different angle, i might've been able to capture some of the sunburst but i was constrained by using the kit lens at 14mm and trying to capture as much as i could in mine i think...my 9-18mm (and eventually my 8mm FE) should be here next week and i will look at trying to play with taking the same types of shots with different settings. thanks guys.

 

[Interceptor121]

Close focus shots should be at 1/125 as a minimum actually more
None of the two shots is actually pointing upwards so the difference is the colour of water and the fact that you have the reef in the way which is bad as it also calls for the light to shine on white bits with sand
Try to get the top with water or get rid of the reef increasing speed to 1/500 assuming your flash still syncs?

 

[chile7236]

Close focus shots should be at 1/125 as a minimum actually more
None of the two shots is actually pointing upwards so the difference is the colour of water and the fact that you have the reef in the way which is bad as it also calls for the light to shine on white bits with sand
Try to get the top with water or get rid of the reef increasing speed to 1/500 assuming your flash still syncs?

my fastest option with the internal flash up is 1/160...i will mess with some composition and strobe settings on my next dive.

 

[Interceptor121]

With a macro four third I believe ISO is at minimum 200 if your shutter speed is at best 160 then this is where you start which means the background colour of the water does not get darker

For the foreground if you have some TTL flash with GN20 you can get up to F20 at half a meter which is what your friend shoot at

The flash sync at 1/160 is a serious limitation of those type of shots especially as ISO200 effectively means you are shooting at 1/80 ISO 100 on another camera so the water will never be that dark with this kind of camera

 

[chile7236]

yeah, i believe the E-PL1 is the only one of oly's M43 cameras that gives you ISO100 but someone said that it was really ISO200. i don't use TTL (sold my TTL strobes) so i will have to play with my settings a bit. not the best pic but this is about as close as i could get to his water color (with some LR editing)