Please critique my photos with my A80

[gladtobehere]

In order to continue to improve, it would be great to know what you think about my photos and any suggestions. You can't hurt my feelings - only make me better. Of couse, non-divers think they are cool but it would be great to hear from Canon'ers. I feel like I have reached the limit of my capabilities or maybe the camera and am looking for other ideas.

A little background - I have an A80 in a WP-DC900 housing with internal strobe that is only used on close up shots. I get under the waters of South Florida about once per month. Temps vary from 72-82 degrees, viz varies from 30-80 ft and depths range mostly from 60-90 fsw to a rare 130+ last weekend (the housing did great). Please disregard the dates on the photos - that is just sorta my thing and like them there even though some feel it "ruins" the photo.

Normally, I shoot in manual mode and start with C1 for macro and C2 for wide angle settting. One thing I know I need to start doing as I read it here is manual white balance and need to get a slate to set it. I have been using the "cloudy" setting at the recommendation of the uw tutorial on the Canon site. I use PSE v2.0 for editing and really suck at it but try the best I can and also do crop the pictures. Not sure how to make the photos here better with this tool. I also think I need a better monitor because it makes me crazy on how the different options look and how they might print out.

Below are the links on Kodak Gallery to three recent dive outings. Your feedback is appreciated!

Marc

Please note that you do not need to log in - just click the first photo to start the slideshow....

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=14fygqu7.1lpep3nb&x=0&y=jp3cxc

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=14fygqu7.9rbct5ev&x=0&y=m9bfde

http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=14fygqu7.ail32gjj&x=0&y=-e59q48

 

[kent_1848]

I admittedly don't know anything about the A80, but have seen better pictures from one. Several are not focused. It is almost like the shutter speed was too slow on some, or you were moving along with the fish to get the shot. Need to work on the white balance, several of your photos with the internal strobe are showing pink on fish that are not pink. Can you shoot in RAW mode? I know you can with the S series, just don't know about the A series. I'm very new at this too, and don't have a lot of experience. My advice is to keep taking pictures, a lot of pictures. Remember, you can snap as many photos as your battery will last, or your card will hold. Don't be afraid to take a bunch of pictures of the same thing using different settings.

 

[havnmonkey]

research white balance...

 

[alcina]

You have some nice shots there! Here's my two cents:

1 - learn to shoot in full manual mode. Learn to set your aperture and your shutter mode to control your backgrounds and depth of field.
2 - learn to use your manual white balance for those images you want to take that are unsuitable for the internal flash
3 - flip your camera to vertical more Not only is this a good tool for composition in some cases, you can also control your flash/backscatter by throwing the light into the reef instead of into the blue. This can also be acheived sometimes by shooting upside down.
4 - practice half press focus and then shoot. Some of the images aren't crisply in focus and many times this is caused by not taking the time to make sure the camera has grabbed the area YOU want in focus. Another cause of slight softness - letting the camera choose the aperture (wide open = softer images) or shutter (slower speeds increase the chance of motion blur from camera, operator, water and/or subject)
5 - experiment! Play around with different settings and different compositions. There's more than one way to skin a cat and digital is a great way to see what will happen...doesn't matter if they work out or not, you're learning and trying new things.

Looking forward to more (though I would prefer to see them in the post instead of having to click more links!)

 

[ocrmaster]

The two eels looks very nice.

Th two shots of the turtle is very nice. But no color.

Good try my friend ... keep practicing.

 

[huskychemist]

I enjoyed looking at your pictures. Thanks for sharing. I'm relatively new to the Underwater Photography Addiction, so my advice will mostly mirror the advice I was given by many of the same folks here that were nice enough to help me out also. I have the A620...so I can't help you with your specific camera. But the general idea of, "Practice Practice Practice" has really helped me. For example, last Friday, I got out for three dives and took over 300 pictures. Only 30-40 or so were good enough to post to my website and share with others...but I learn more with each dive about how to use the camera. Alcina recommended the "half-button push" to get the camera to focus first. She (and likely others) gave me that same advice early on and I've started doing that, and have noticed improvement in my pictures. My first dive, I had MAYBE five pictures worth keeping...and none of them were nearly as good as my more recent pictures. When I do the "half-button push" I look for the orange box that shows me where the camera is focusing. If it's not on the critter I'm trying to photograph, I move closer/farther away and try again. Or, I take the picture anyway, then move and re-take the picture. That's one thing I've also tried...taking five or more pictures of the same critter... I can get different focal lengths, different angles, etc. I'm still in automatic mode, as I think my pictures can still get better just from my own practice. Then I'll be trying the manual settings.

I know I've rambled a bit...sorry. But keep practicing. Oh yeah...if you haven't already found it...the Canon Corner has some "introductory" stickies that I found helpful. I think the "Underwater Photography" forum might also have more of the same. I have gone back and re-read some of them, and have found them very helpful.

And forgive the thread steal here...I'll keep it short. Alcina, you mentioned your preference to not having to go to external links to see pictures... I usually do something similar, as I post them to my website anyway, and feel it's a bit of duplication if I post the pictures here... Maybe on my next round of pictures I'll post a few of my favorites here, and a link to see all the rest... Would that be a reasonable way to handle that?

Thanks Marc for sharing your pictures. And one more thing...the christmas tree worm pic is my favorite.

Lowell

 

[alcina]

Maybe on my next round of pictures I'll post a few of my favorites here, and a link to see all the rest... Would that be a reasonable way to handle that?

Lowell

Absolutely! Post the ones you like the most and/or really want feedback on. It is far easier for others to comment on a couple of images at a time - and more useful for the shooter, too. The link let's people look at your other images for fun and more ideas, too.

But many of us don't have the time to click through links and/or are on dialup or slow connections and more links are just sometimes a hassle...especially if you are multitasking . It's another reason to keep your file sizes under 100kb. 700 pixels on the longest side is a good rule of thumb and will dispaly without scrolling on many monitors.

 

[gladtobehere]

I will be sure to post new photos with the new results as soon as I get diving again!

Thanks again!

Marc