Please help me, for the sake of the children....

[jiveturkey]

I just posted a picture in the "Looking Up" thread. When I look at my photo compared to the others, it just doesn't have the same feel at all. I'm using C4000, no strobe with automatic settings. I'm still learning how to use those. I've got my camera set on medium resolution.

Is there really that much of a difference between the picture quality with a c4000 vs the c5050? It can't be my skill in this situation. It HAS to be the camera right?

Could it have something to do with my resolution setting? Everyone always says use the hightest one. But my highest setting (Tiff) gives me only 14 shots on a 128mb card. Should I use the SHQ setting? I don't think it'll make a difference in this situation. Maybe for cropping I guess.

 

[Rick Murchison]

In this particular series, yours is one of three where there's enough water between you and the subject to fog the image due to visibility and scatter. Look at the sea lions and the kelp shots too, and you'll see the same "fog."
You can get excellent quality out of the 4000. Keep at it.
Rick

 

[ScubaRon]

Please include it in your message ot at least provide a link.
ScubaRon

 

[jiveturkey]

ok. http://www.scubaboard.com/t40919/s.html

 

[Dee]

SHQ will work just fine. Your photo is also pixelated which distracts from it.

I think most of your 'haze' is just water quality. Look at some of the others with excellent visibility, the distance doesn't seem to matter.

 

[ScubaRon]

There are actually several differences between your picture and many of the others:
1. As Rick stated: the distance is further. This definitely accounts for much of the "fog"
2. The light is coming in from an angle, which strongly reduces contrast and makes it hard for your auto-exposure to determine a correct setting. As a result the picture is a little overexposed.
3. Your picture has no other elements in it than the divers and this makes it look kind of flat. Silhouette shots usually look best if there are some other elements that make the scene more dramatic: e.g. the surface texture or the kelp forests in some of the other pics.
I don't think it is the camera: keep going and try making shots from different angles and using different settings and analyze them to see how the results differ.
ScubaRon

 

[Gilligan]

jiveturkey I cannot emphasize enough about using the manual settings on that camera. They are discussed on THIS SITE. I used auto settings on my C2040Z for the longest time then went to the manual ones, M (A/S/M). I only use manual settings on my C4000Z.
The no-flash pics can be cleaned up in PS7 or PS Elements as previously discussed on this forum with a process we called the "mandrake process" after his nickname on DigitalDiver.net. I put that process on my PT-010 Helpful Hints site giving him full credit for it.
That pic you are talking about is out of focus. I played with it in PS7 and got the color balanced with the "mandrake process" and sharpened it up but the focus is off. Just keep experimenting with the camera and reading the instructions on the CD ROM that came with it (which I didn't do at first). There is a ton of information on it.

 

[jiveturkey]

Thanks for the tips guys. I was starting to get frustrated but I gotta remember to stay focused (sorry, pun). I'm off to Sipadan tomorrow. Maybe I can do better there.

 

[Evil Bill]

One thing you may want to note is that your pic is only about 5-6k. This is rather a small file to get a good showing from at the size posted. Please note that several of the other files posted are nearly 100k in size. You may be losing some quality in your translation from camera to post. Check your settings on your Photo program. Hopefully this will bring out a clearer picture for you.

In addition as everyone has said practice, get close and you'll do great!! Best of luck!

 

[ssra30]

In this kind of situation, wide angle lens is very useful as it will let you get much closer to the subject and still get the nice panoramic view. Even if visibility is not great, you can still get some very nice shots without all the haze that way.