wench
Registered
Wow, I'm actually quite amazed at the white balance quality just using the blue 25+ setting! Around what depth were most of those taken? And these were without manually setting the WB or using any editing software color correction? (Sorry, I wasn't quite sure what you meant in the original post) I haven't been on a dive trip since SeaLife updated the DC1400's firmware, so I'm hoping this is a result of that.
Hi Pillpusher, in the picture right above your post we were probably between 60-65 feet UW and no, I didn't manually set the white balance - just used the > 25 feet feature. The series of pictures that were originally posted were no deeper than 50 feet. We planned that dive specifically for shooting - counting on the ambient light. The only retouch on these are the auto and contrast levels using Elements.
I must say, using the 1400 for my FIRST TIME UW w/o a strobe, I am pleased with the outcome of the 1400 for giving me real and true colors.
---------- Post added March 11th, 2013 at 08:12 AM ----------
Get closer (as advised by brianthediver) and ignore the impulse and advice of many people to post process to make your photos perfect. Photoshop does not fix broken. Ignore it until you are good enough to need it! I am not there yet. Take lots of shots. Then on the next dive take more. Then look at them. What could you do better? What did you do wrong? What do you not understand. Why did it go wrong? Ask questions! Form a plan of picture variations before your next dive, execute the plan, look at the results. Toss the crap. Do not beat yourself up.
Learn on every dive. (or dive trip if you are a slow learner like me...) I had a great mentor when I started land photography and he beat me up pretty bad. I wanted to get into advanced darkroom stuff and he pointed out that I was clearly incompetent behind the lens. With his advice I became very happy with my motorsports photo ability and got lots of awesome shots that I am very proud of.
Macro scuba photography has made me very humble. I am still learning. Long way to go to before I become competent. But I use the same learning principles. Make a plan, execute the plan, review, learn, adjust.Oh: and use the law of large numbers: if you take a very large number of shots, sometimes you will get an awesome keeper. But do not depend on this...
Thank you giffenk for your input. I definitely agree with take a lot of shots and then take more shots. (I do a lot of photography above water)
Because this was my first time "ever" shooting UW, I kept it in infinity mode and want to get comfortable with using it before progressing to the next level. Once I feel comfy with what I'm doing and after I get my wide angle lens I may be ready for trying Macro shots. I'm in no rush realizing it will take practice, practice, practice.
Without using a strobe and completely depending upon the ambient light, I am pleased to of had a few of hundreds of shots turn out descent and thus far, pleased with the outcome. Thanks again for your time in answering my post and offering your advise.