Some of my photos. Any Advice?

[Roko]

Howdy, I've been taking photos underwater for a while now, and have been noticing a steady and marked improvement. Here are some of my favorite photos from the past few months, any advice on how to improve upon them would be greatly appreciated. Some notes before we start:

- All these photos are in cold water with associated generally poor viz (Vancouver!)
- I'm using a Canon Powershot G10 with a single manual strobe (YS-27). I'd like to get a wet macro lens eventually.
- I'm getting better at getting close to small subjects to fill the frame, generally now I'm zoomed in half-way and as close as I can get without scaring the subject, and while still able to get focus. I'm still experimenting with zooms. (Generally I'm always in Macro mode)
- I tend to crop, often because I can't get close enough to tiny subjects (see above)
- Everything starts as RAW, I process in Darktable (similar to lightroom)

Onto some photos:

 

[Scuba_Noob]

Other than maybe trying out a brighter setting and maybe zooming in on the subjects (or getting closer), these images look very good to me. You could probably use your photo-processing program to remove more backscatter from photo #4 or you could use Photoshop (which is what I use). I totally understand the poor viz. We had 10-15ft viz for a couple of months on the island, and now it's around 40ft (yay!).

To get closer, all I can suggest (other than a macro lens) is just staying still and not moving so much during a dive. I've had dives where I didn't move more than 30ft, and those were where I got some great photos.

 

[Larry C]

Most glaring weakness is composition and background. The Lingcod is your best shot. I understand your difficulty, because I do most of my shooting in Monterey, and most stuff is on the bottom on a seacrap background. You're looking down on all of your subjects, and your subjects are mostly centered in the frame and uniformly lit. Look at some pictures from other photographers that you really like. Where is the subject in the frame? What is the point of view? Where is the light and where are the shadows? If you want to document what you saw on your dive, putting the whole subject in the middle of the frame, from a viewpoint where most divers see it (above) is fine. If you want pictures to hang on your wall, you need to approach your subject thinking about the best angle and distance. Take several pictures of the same subject if you can, from under, next to, closer, farther. Find an interesting part of the subject and concentrate on it, and get closer to your subjects. Also, try moving your strobe. Side lighting? Back lighting? Lighting from underneath? Put on and take off the diffuser to concentrate or spread the light.

 

[Roko]

Thanks to the both of you! Now I've got some things to play around and try out next time I'm in the water

 

[fisheater]

Take a look at Martin Edge's book, The Underwater Photographer.

He has excellent stuff on composition, lighting and point of view.


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[TSandM]

My favorite is the squat lobster shot. It's shot up, which is more dramatic, and you have the eyes clear and in sharp focus. The mass of rock above him is balanced on the other side by the dark, and the animal occupies a large amount of the total photograph. There is a slight diagonal line to the surface he's sitting on, which is pleasant. It's the best composed picture.

The little fish which is the next one is actually a nice portrait, but I would have cropped it much closer, because all that negative space around him is not adding anything to the picture. Same with the Janolus photo -- it's a nice picture, because you have both of the rhinopores and they appear to be in good focus, but the animal is so small, sitting in the middle of all that uninteresting background, that the picture loses drama.

The anemone and starfish picture is one of those that's a great story-telling picture, but just isn't a great photograph -- not necessarily because of anything you did, but because the angle you needed to show the story just wasn't great for an artistic picture.

I'm just starting out, like you are, but I've had the good luck to get some coaching from several extremely good photographers. It's an addicting activity!

 

[Roko]

Thanks for the comments!

I agree the fish portraits could be cropped closer, and that's part of my struggle to get close enough to the fish to decently fill the frame and still be able to focus.... For now I'll have to resort to aggressive cropping. Something to work on.

For the starfish, thinking about it in hindsight leads me to believe I should have gotten below the anemone, effectively getting a side view of the action - I probably could have gotten a good black or vibrant green background. A idea for next time!

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[00wabbit]

Composition and more interesting lighting as mentioned above.

Look into the rule of thirds. Easy to learn, easy to remember, and makes shots much more interesting. Your camera should have a rule of thirds overlay on the display screen to help you compose as well.

 

[pezgrande]

less centered target shots. Follow rule of thirds, and get as close as possible