Destin report June 17-28 snorkeling & pics (long)

[trigfunctions]

Thanks for the info. I really am amazed at how well your pictures turened out, especially the hermit crab. I use an autofix color correction on my photos and the color improves but not the sharpness of the images. Can I pester you with a few more questions?

1. Do you know what aperture setting you are using and what shutter speed the camera chose? I have found that if I use Av the camera will often choose a shutter speed of 1/60 or less, which makes the pictures fuzzy. The best luck I have is when I use the Tv mode and set the shutter to 1/125 or faster, but then there is usually a problem that there is not enough available light and/or depth of field.

2. Was the water really clear in those photos? That may explain how you are able to get more light.

3. Did you sharpen the hermit crab photo? The focus on that photo is really great.

Thanks again!

Trig,
I set the camera to Av mode (dial on the top), and then set ISO to 100 to make sure the pics don't have too much noise. Everything else I leave in the camera's default settings. In Av mode I also use "sunny" (that the default) unless it is cloudy or I am diving deep. I don't white balance and I don't use the camera's underwater mode. Since I don't white balance, I adjust all the photos later using the simple auto-fix command in a couple of the photo editing programs I use (for example, "auto levels" in Photo Elements). This is very easy to do, and for shallow water snorkeling pics, I find this usually does a surprisingly good job of correcting the color that is lost underwater even in the shallow depths. On macro shots I usually sharpen the photos slightly using a sharpen command or "unsharp mask" in the photo editing programs, although this doesn't do that much to improve the photos. It's the auto fix command that really improves the photos. One thing you have to be sure of is to be as steady as possible when you take the photo. This can be hard when snorkeling because of surge in shallow water and the fact that you can't achieve neutral buoyancy such as a scuba diver could in deeper water. To steady myself, I try to hold onto a rock (not coral, that's a no-no) with one hand while taking the picture with the camera in my other hand. A weight belt is also essential for getting down in the water column, and I always use one.

 

[Dave C]

Trig,
I am at work now so I don't have access to my original photos to check what the shutter speed was. I'll send another reply later today after I get home. I think I remember I have occasionally gotten good focus in macro mode with shutter speeds as slow as 1/60, although usually the photos at this speed turn out blurry. I only use macro mode for stationary things, and in macro I usually try to take several photos in an attempt to end up with one that's good. (The pics I took of the hermit crab and the toadfish were macro.) The water was pretty clear where I took these photos - maybe 25 ft - but certainly no bettter than what you might have in Ft. Lauderdale on a decent day. Additionally, the water in Destin is always a little discolored or stained somewhat green, so water conditions there are seldom ideal compared to what you might have in a place like Cozumel with ultraclear water. Yes, I did sharpen the hermit crab and the toadfish photos, but this results in just a subtle improvement. It's worth doing, but not earthshaking. I've always heard that you sharpen or use "unsharp mask" to slightly improve a photo that is already in good focus. Unsharp mask doesn't help to focus a picture that starts out a little blurry.

 

[Dave C]

Krtismo, thank you for your nice comments!

 

[Dave C]

Trig,
O.K., I'm home and I have checked on the photo settings. For the hermit crab photo, aperture (F) was 2.8 and shutter speed was 1/500. For the toadfish photo, F was 3.5 and shutter speed was 1/500. The flash photo of the gray snapper in a crevice had an F of 2.8 and shutter speed of 1/60. These were all automatically selected by the camera. The only thing I set was ISO to 100. I looked at some of my other flash photos that were taken in crevices or overhangs and they often have shutter speeds of 1/60.

 

[trigfunctions]

Dave - that info is extremely helpful. Thank you!