Finally got a camera ...

Well, I purchased a Fuju F10 from Uncle Pug about a week before the ScubaBoard Bonaire trip, and figured the thing out while snapping pics in Bonaire. I've posted a dozen of my favorite shots from the trip in my gallery.

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/2872

Wouldn't mind some constructive critiques from those of you who are more experienced ... keeping in mind that getting decent shots in Bonaire is way easier than it will be now that I'm back home ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

great pics! maybe you should be the one sharing tips

"a small thing" - great detail

Very good Bob! A lot better than I managed my first time out. In fact a lot better than I usually manage now!

Agree with above most excellent pictures and a very good eye for detail. The only thing you could try is to learn how to enhance your shots in Photoshop. Some more contrast, hue and sharpness and your shots would be even better.

YMMV

NWGratefulDiver:

Well, I purchased a Fuju F10 from Uncle Pug about a week before the ScubaBoard Bonaire trip, and figured the thing out while snapping pics in Bonaire. I've posted a dozen of my favorite shots from the trip in my gallery.

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/2872

Wouldn't mind some constructive critiques from those of you who are more experienced ... keeping in mind that getting decent shots in Bonaire is way easier than it will be now that I'm back home ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Click to expand...

Bob, those are some impressive shots especially for a relatively new camera. Some nice sharp well composed images. Liked the one of the dual nudis. But as you suggest conditions back home may be a bit more difficult. Coming also from a limited viz area, I've found that having the ability to shoot wide angle (unless you plan on doing primarily close up or macro work) is an absolute necessity. Don't know much about the Fuji F10 and housing system, but if a wet mount WAL is available, I would check it out.

Really liked your pictures Bob. If those are your 1st pictures with that setup I can't help waiting what they will turn out to be after a few trips. As guys mentioned earlier it's all about photoshoping now
Loved the harlequin schrimp on a anemone!

Very nice, you avoided "shooting down" on subjects and over exposing. Buy the biggest memory card you can and as Dee says "shoot till your finger bleeds". As mentioned pick up Adobe Elements. I made the mistake of trying to save money and bought a program no one else uses and now breaking down and buying Adobe so I can take advantage of all the great editing threads posted.

NWGratefulDiver:

Well, I purchased a Fuju F10 from Uncle Pug about a week before the ScubaBoard Bonaire trip, and figured the thing out while snapping pics in Bonaire. I've posted a dozen of my favorite shots from the trip in my gallery.

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/2872

Wouldn't mind some constructive critiques from those of you who are more experienced ... keeping in mind that getting decent shots in Bonaire is way easier than it will be now that I'm back home ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Click to expand...

for Photography Bob!!

The composition looks good. I did notice you appeared to be using program mode for exposure all the time. For some reason this put you at f8 for every shot I looked at. It seems to be doing a good job, so maybe you should stick with that!! However you may want to have a bit more control in some situations, especially if you are shooting in less light.

As for software, as others have pointed out, image adjustments are essential iwhen making good prints, and help on the web as well. Obviously the intent IMO is NOT to create a clownish looking over saturated image, but to adjust color balance, saturation, sharpen, and reduce noise in such a way that makes the image more true to what you saw (or would have seen if there was more of a red spectrum).

Adobe Photoshop is king of photo editors, but is also likely the most expensive option out there.

Jasc (now Coral) Paint Shop Pro X is IMO a MUCH better choice than most other options out there, and can be found for under $100.

http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satell...=1047025488099&trkid=googlepsp&trkid=14679803

I'm going to do a trial copy as I don't currently use this. However it has some powerful features that do things are are very time consuming in PhotoShop. Many professionals choose this product as an editing tool along side of PS. If you don't currently have editing software, and don't want to spend $500 on Photoshop, this would be my recommendation.

Thanks everyone for the comments. I do have Photoshop Elements, and am using it for cropping and auto color adjustment ... that's about the extent of what I know how to do with it so far.

Someone on the flight home had also suggested a WAL ... I'll have to look into it.

One thing I noticed right away is that carrying a camera changes the way I dive. My gas consumption went up rather dramatically ... mostly, I think, from trying to maintain buoyancy control while hanging upside down taking a lot of pictures. But I can see what I'm doing a lot better that way, and keep my body parts well away from the reef while I'm doing it. My buddy skills went to hell as well ... I often found that after taking a photo I'd look up and have to look around a few seconds just to locate my buddy (who was also viewing the whole dive through an LCD screen). She would often be unacceptably far away, and that's something I will have to correct in a hurry. I can see that there are multiple diving skills that require "refinement" once one decides to add a camera to the dive kit. Since I hadn't been doing photography, I haven't really been reading this forum ... is there a place in here where these topics are discussed?

I can tell this is gonna be a whole 'nother learning experience, both from a photography and a diving skills perspective ...

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

Great shots, Bob! As already mentioned you have great composition and subject choices and you've avoided all the newbie mistakes. Most of your shots are macro so the f/8 wroks well for that but you might want to venture into aperture or shutter mode for a bit more control. Full manual mode will give you the untimate in control but it's not necessary, IMO.

The only technical comments I have is some of the shots are a little soft, you might want to work on your fine focusing a bit. I'm not familiar with the F810 but I'm sure others who are will chime in.

Some minor tweaking in Photoshop would help most of the shots, soft focusing can be helped with some sharpening. If you don't already have a PS program, PS Elements is very affordable ($99), very powerful and all you need for tweaking.

Good job I especially like that Petefish specimen!