Please, judge me! Photo critique wanted

[Coll]

Hi all,

I just took my first official underwater pictures, the system was a Canon SD630 digital camera and it's WP-DC3 underwater housing. The pictures were all taken between about 20-28 feet of water on a semi-sunny day. All pictures were taken with the camera's flash and some were taken after setting the white balance against the sand underwater. ISO setting was at 80 the whole time. The pictures are untouched by any image editing software also. Oh, and the pictures are from Otter Cove in Monterey, CA. Ok, now that I think I covered everything, please be brutally honest with your thoughts on the pictures, not whether you like them or not, but problems you see with them and suggestions you have for my next excursion.

One quick note: The third picture called "small green amen" in the bottom right of the picture there is a much greener coloring, is that my shadow in the picture? If so, oops.

 

[SCOOBA PHAN]

you need to get some kind of strobe, be it a starter cheap one or an upscale version. i use that same camera and i can tell you a strobe will make a hugh difference. you will never get the quality of shots you are looking for without one. tom

 

[amajamar]

All but the last one (starfish) are seriously out of focus. Set the camera on Macro mode.

The Canon housing is shadowing the onboard flash. You need to use the Canon flash diffuser if you are going to use onboard flash. My Canon housing is the same way. With the diffuser, however, the onboard flash will help substantially with close-up work and you will see better results until you invest in a strobe.

 

[Darnold9999]

You are shooting from above in three of the shots - shoot from the side and the shot will be much more interesting. Two books - Jim Church's Essential guide to composition and Martin Edge The underwater Photographer would be a good place to start. The first is very short and easy to get you mind around, the second is a bit more technical, but still I found it useful as a beginner.

 

[fairybasslet]

I totally disagree with the "buy a strobe and your photos will be wonderful" mindset. Like amajamar said, your subjects are way out of focus. That is your main problem.

My first suggestion would be to KNOW YOUR CAMERA. Do you shoot on land a lot? Practice on land first. Then practice on land with the camera in the housing so you get used to using the buttons. Once you know your camera then I would worry about a strobe because then you have to learn how to use THAT.

Also, like Darnold9999 mentioned, you are shooting down at your subjects. It is better to shoot up or from the side, think about your background...there is so much more but that's my 200 psi for starters.

 

[SCOOBA PHAN]

the shadow in the lower right corner is caused by the port of the canon housing and no diffuser can stop that entirely. learning the sd630 is not that big of a deal. you quite obviously want to learn to take better pictures or you would not have put them on here for our review. a stobe will will immediately make your pics better. i say learn the camera and the strobe together. the shadow will go away when you use a strobe. tom

 

[amajamar]

It's not a strobe, but the diffuser makes quite a difference.

 

[alcina]

Great to see you getting your new rig out there! You're choosing some great subjects - you must have a keen eye to see some of these

Here's a couple of things that strike me and should be fairly easy to implement for your next submersion:

1) you seem to be too close to your subject and so you have blurry, unfocused images.. You appear to be inside the minimum focus distance of your camera. You need to practice on land to see how close you can actually get and still get a crisp image. Every lens/camera has a minimum distance that you can't encroach on and still have focus, you need to learn it. Were you on the macro setting? If not, try that as it reduces this minimum distance, allowing you in closer.

2) make sure your diffuser is attached properly. The shadow in your images is from your internal flash being blocked by the housing itself. Using the diffuser should eliminate most, if not all, of this. If it doesn't, back up a smidge.

3) try not to shoot straight down on your subject. Do it sometimes as it can work, especially for demonstrating camo'd creatures, but make sure to get more angles to try to separate your subject from the background, at least a little bit. Different angles also allow for different compositions so take a few shots of everything to see what you like best.

To buy a strobe or not will depend on your finances and your goals. There is no reason at all why you cannot do just fine with the internal flash - you just need to learn to work with it.

Can't wait to see the second round!

 

[Larry C]

The likely cause of your blurred pictures is a slow shutter speed due to the lack of a strobe. From your subjects I don't think you're inside the minimum focal distance, but for close-up subjects I always keep my camera in macro mode. It will just focus faster that way. Even in 30 feet of water, there hasn't been a lot of light lately in Monterey Bay. On a really good visibility day you might be able to get away with no strobe, but when it's really green, your light will be limited and if you're using auto settings your camera will set itself to about 1/40 or even less. If you have manual settings available, you can set the camera for at least 1/60 and get rid of some of the blur. If you use macro and at least 1/60 you should get clearer pictures. A diffuser will help balance your light and get rid of the lens shadow to some extent. It will also limit your backscatter, but in really heavy particulate you'll probably get some anyway. Otherwise, your subjects are good. Try to get those anemones from different angles, even when they're on the bottom. I try to look for the ones that are perched on the upper edge of a rock for a different view.

 

[fairybasslet]

Listen to Alcina. She knows!!!

Another thing I was thinking about, I don't think you can actually set the white balance by aiming down at the sand. I was taught to use a white slate right in front of the camera so you can get the proper setting for the depth of the subject you are shooting.
I took this shot in Bonaire using manual white balance with my dearly depart Oly 7070::coffin: I don't know how good it is, but I had fun playing with that feature and trying to master it.