Ways to enhance photos while snorkeling?

[RIHappyDiver]

My wife has a TG 6 that she is currently using while snorkeling. Is there anything she can add in the form of a video light, or whatever (you don’t know what you don’t know), to enhance the subjects of her photos? She is probably going to get certified, so this is too hold her over until she’s comfortable enough to take the camera with her, which will be a different Christmas present, lol.
Thanks,
Erik

 

[tursiops]

The best thing she can probably do is get closer. The amount of water between the camera and the subject needs to be reduced. Light is not usually the problem while snorkeling, and adding a video light or strobe can actually make the problem worse.
Can you describe what is "wrong" with the pix? What needs to be enhanced?

 

[BoltSnap]

My wife has a TG 6 that she is currently using while snorkeling. Is there anything she can add in the form of a video light, or whatever (you don’t know what you don’t know), to enhance the subjects of her photos? She is probably going to get certified, so this is too hold her over until she’s comfortable enough to take the camera with her, which will be a different Christmas present, lol.
Thanks,
Erik

Show us pics and we can help you diagnose what's wrong and the solution

 

[RIHappyDiver]

The best thing she can probably do is get closer. The amount of water between the camera and the subject needs to be reduced. Light is not usually the problem while snorkeling, and adding a video light or strobe can actually make the problem worse.
Can you describe what is "wrong" with the pix? What needs to be enhanced?

The two biggest problems are distance, which she knows getting closer would help, and when the sun goes behind clouds. I had a suspicion that there really wasn’t much that she could do, but I don’t do much with cameras. As she gets used to the camera she can play around with post production, but I’m not sure how much that will help with those two problems.

 

[RIHappyDiver]

Show us pics and we can help you diagnose what's wrong and the solution

Here you go!

 

[RIHappyDiver]

Mainly, she doesn’t feel that they are as vibrant as they could be. I tell her, basically, what @tursiops says, she needs to be closer. Also, that the pictures she is comparing them to were taken with much bigger setups than she currently has.

If she gets certified I’ll probably be back asking about housings, etc, but not until she has a few dives under her belt.

Thanks again!

 

[tursiops]

Here you go!

I see four main problems in these pics:
(1) Distant shots of small things. Need to get closer if possible, use zoom function if necessary. Optical zoom, not digital zoom.
(2) Shooting angle. Most reef critters are designed to be less visible from above...i.e., from predators cruising around. Thus, you want to photograph them horizontally, or, even better, looking up at them. Otherwise they tend to disappear into the background, which is their intent.
(3) Color balance. Can be adjusted in post-processing, but the TG6 has an UW setting; use it.
(4) Hazy. Caused by crummy water. Can get closer to help. Also, some post-processing programs allow a "haze" filter or "clarity" adjustment. Use it.

 

[BoltSnap]

Here you go!

The camera is TOO FAR away, no light or strobe is going to fix that. Shooting from top down is bad composition too. You need to be down facing the animal (slightly lower shooting up) and MUCH closer.

Doing it "snorkeling" isn't going to help much since you are always shooting down and away from the subject.

 

[js1221]

As Boltsnap has already said, shooting from the top down is bad composition, it rarely results is a good picture. She needs to get closer, and down on the level or below that of her subject.

 

[RIHappyDiver]

Thank you, my friends. This is all pretty much what we both thought. She is also struggling with not having reading glasses, lol. She is going to play with only using one contact so that she might be able to see her subject and the viewer.
She is still learning her camera, unfortunately her job gets in the way of her spending time on important things, .