Thursday's (1/8) Maui dive photo

[Gilligan]

Another archive photo. Today's dive was aborted.
After paddling out to my dive site and getting all my gear and camera in the water, my regulator second stage swivel O ring blows out. Don't ya just hate when that happens. At least it happened prior to the dive.
The Marbled Shrimp is one of my favorite shrimps, which I seem to run into a lot lately. The female is identified by the bristles on the front pair of legs. I started taking the background out of some of my macro shots to see how they look.

M (A/S/M) Mode, F4 Macro, 1/100, Internal Strobe

 

[scuba_star]

Great Picture.

 

[alcina]

What are you using to take the background out? Are you moving the shrimp to a black background or are you somehow making the original background black?

 

[Gilligan]

I saw this somewhere on the net and it works quite well. It was as follows:

The main difficulty with trying to separate an image from its background is that there are pixels which cover an area of the picture which is partly foreground and partly background. With some methods, you have to declare whether a pixel is either foreground or background, even though it may be both.

Believe it or not, there is a way that you can cut pixels in half. In Photoshop, the way it works is that if you cut a pixel in half, you'll have the same pixel, but it will be 50% transparent, so it will be affected by what colour you put under it, just like the difference between coloured paper and cellophane.

1 – The original image
Select the Freeform Pen tool from the Toolbox (click and hold down on the pen tool if it's not immediately visible.)

2 - Creating a Path
Use the Freeform Pen to draw a rough outline around the object. (Make sure you have the "Paths" option at the top left of the screen selected.) Generally err on the side of cutting into the image rather than leaving a gap.

Use Ctrl+Click to manipulate the points, and drag their "arms" around to change the curve. To insert a new point, just click on the line.

When you've finished, right-click the line, and click Make Selection. This turns your line into a selection.

3 - Removing the background
Cut out your object and paste it into a new layer. (Ctrl+C, then Ctrl+V) You can then replace your background layer with whatever you want.

Notice there are no jaggy edges, and there is no visible outline.

End of quote.

I used the Freeform Pen to just follow the outlines of the shrimp freehand. I cleaned up the odds and ends with the paintbrush after pasting the shrimp on a black canvass.

 

[rjens]

Great shot, very interesting looking little guy...

my regulator second stage swivel O ring blows out.

Is this (see attachment) what you mean by your "second stage swivel"? I was thinking of this as an alternative to a long hose but you are the second person to mention that their O-Rings tend to blow out - at least frequently enough to be a concern. I don't like the way the std hose trys to torque out of my mouth, so looking for an alternative. Long hose is one, this is another... still thinking.

You have had some tough luck recently (hand, grey suit, weather, monster waves, and now equipment). Hope you get back in the water soon.

Thanks for your posts, and keep playing it safe. No pictures worth dying for... there is always tomorrow.

RJ

 

[Gilligan]

Similar to the one in your photo but no angle involved. It's the first time it has happened to me. I get my gear religiously serviced every year as it is a Scubapro (MK15 and G250) and the parts are free. However, that particular O-ring is not part of the annual service kit. You would think every O-ring should be part of an annual service kit. Go figure.
I never paid much attention to the torque on the mouthpiece. Guess it never bothered me. I can see where the angle in your photo would relieve that.

 

[rjens]

thanks, have a great day.

RJ

 

[Dee]

Beast was having trouble with his swivel leaking. Nothing we did fixed it. He replaced it with a 45º fixed elbow. Voila!

My swivel hasn't been a problem.

 

[caymaniac]

Excellent photo. I wish I had more time to experiment.

All the best,
Caymaniac

 

[Gilligan]

Time is what you have plenty of when you are retired.
:happyjaz: