C&C North Carolina - first salt water attempt with manual

[Scotttyd]

Here are a couple from my first try with my nikon p5100. First two are with inon WA lense and second two no WA, but with AF35 strobe.

F 3.8 1/60 sec 100iso
The sand tiger really was that white - much lighter than what I am used to seeing. The picture really is about the same as what I acutally saw, I just wish I could have got more color in the bottom of the wreck and more contrast between the water and shark. Any ideas?

F 4.3 1/30 sec 100 iso

This one does not show it as much, but I was having a lot of "blow out" from the sun whenever I would aim the camera up, how does one get the photos with the sun beam shining in without blowing out the area of the picture?

f 3.4 1/125 sec 100 iso, a little underexposed I think, I would have love to see more color again. My guess is I should have made the strobe intensity higher?

f 4.3 1/125 sec 100 iso
The fish was maybe and 2 inches long, this one I am actually proud of that it turned out good for a beginner.

 

[sarita75]

Lovely. I like the 1st one the best. As well as the last - very good quality, nice array of sealife!

 

[Scotttyd]

thanks, I had to laugh a little with the first one, I took a series of about 5 or 6 photos, each one a little closer than the last as I swam at an angle towards the big girl (notice all the bites from the mating males on her back), I move the camera and realize I am just over an arms length from her. The WA can be deceiving when looking through the view finder.

 

[sarita75]

Very cool. I like that.

 

[S4L]

.... The WA can be deceiving when looking through the view finder.

Nice shot of the SandTiger and no kiddin'. I did the same thing in January with the biggest stingray I had seen in Belize. Took the camera from my eyeball and realized how close I was and my eyes went . I hope no one take's offense to this, but I even thought of Steve Irwin thinking "BackupBackupBackupBackupBackup"

 

[fisheyeview]

thanks, I had to laugh a little with the first one, I took a series of about 5 or 6 photos, each one a little closer than the last as I swam at an angle towards the big girl (notice all the bites from the mating males on her back), I move the camera and realize I am just over an arms length from her. The WA can be deceiving when looking through the view finder.

That's good. I always tell people that one of the key things in W/A photography is to get close. If you think you are close, get closer. The less water between you and the subject the crisper the image will be.

I like the shot by the way.

 

[fisheyeview]

To get a little more contrast you could try a couple of things. If you were able to swim up on the shark then it was not moving that fast, so you could drop the shutter speed. This would allow you to increase your f-stop. You could also gain some f-stop by sacrificing some ISO. Maybe bump it up to 200. A higher f-stop will give you more DOF ie contrast.

Shooting up into the sun is a tough one. Especially with a digital camera. I used to do it a lot with film. If there are sun rays radiating in the water you will have to bump your shutter speed up to capture the rays. Usually you have to go to 1/250 or faster to do this. This means you will have to sacrifice ISO, f-stop, or both to do this. It is all a balancing act between the 3 settings.

If you are somewhere that you can do a bunch of test shots it really helps to understand how each effects a shot. When you are in Bonaire you will have time to try this.

• Meter the water at the mid water point. (Not the darkest part, and not near the sun.)
• set your f-stop, shutter speed, and ISO based on the meter. I then like to bump the f-stop up 1 setting. I like a darker back ground. Your preference may be for a lighter back ground so adjust to your tastes.
• Take a shot.
• Next, change your f-stop (up, or down)
• since f-stop and shutter speed are inversely related you will have to adjust the shutter speed 1 setting in the opposite direction.
• Take a shot. You should have the exact same amount of light coming in on this shot as the last shot.
• By going through this process as far in both directions as your camera will allow this will give you an idea of which combination of f-stop and shutter speed works best for your tastes.

We used to do this with film. I always hated wasting the film and money getting it developed, but it was well worth the money to learn how things interact. Now with digital all you are spending are pixels.

Here are a couple from my first try with my nikon p5100. First two are with inon WA lense and second two no WA, but with AF35 strobe.

F 3.8 1/60 sec 100iso
The sand tiger really was that white - much lighter than what I am used to seeing. The picture really is about the same as what I acutally saw, I just wish I could have got more color in the bottom of the wreck and more contrast between the water and shark. Any ideas?

F 4.3 1/30 sec 100 iso

This one does not show it as much, but I was having a lot of "blow out" from the sun whenever I would aim the camera up, how does one get the photos with the sun beam shining in without blowing out the area of the picture?

f 3.4 1/125 sec 100 iso, a little underexposed I think, I would have love to see more color again. My guess is I should have made the strobe intensity higher?

f 4.3 1/125 sec 100 iso
The fish was maybe and 2 inches long, this one I am actually proud of that it turned out good for a beginner.

 

[ryssyr]

I hope you dont mind, but I took the liberty of adjusting your 1st photo. if you are not manually white balancing underwater, photoshop, lightroom or aperture can do quick work of getting the blue haze removed from your photos.

I did a quick white balance correction on your sand tiger.

The temp was dialed up to 15000k and the tint to 150.

very cool shot!

 

[Scotttyd]

I hope you dont mind, but I took the liberty of adjusting your 1st photo. if you are not manually white balancing underwater, photoshop, lightroom or aperture can do quick work of getting the blue haze removed from your photos.

I did a quick white balance correction on your sand tiger.

The temp was dialed up to 15000k and the tint to 150.

very cool shot!

that looks pretty good, no, I did not manual white balance, (didn't think of it until too late). I am trying to replicate what you did with photoshop. I cannot do it thou, where do you go to adjust temp and tint? I tried to use the pointer tool but to no avail.

 

[ryssyr]

in photoshop its a little harder than in lightroom or aperture.

in photoshop use image---> adjustments--> levels

and

image---> adjustments--> curves

to adjust the colors

in aperture use the white balance tool to adjust the temp and tint..

in lightroom (im not really sure) but there is a white balance tool there too from what i remember from my early version.

maybe some others can comment on the best quickest way to do this in photoshop. I used aperture for the example above.