C&C Add'l Bonaire Pic - close up lens

I am posting additional Bonaire pictures, this time these are pictures taken with the Inon Close Up lens. I bought the lens just before the trip and Bonaire was the first chance I got to use it. I practiced considerably on coral and xmas tree worms in an effort to learn to use the lens. I had problems focusing and lighting (too much or too little). Being from Southern California my pictures are frequently over exposed when photographing in tropical locations. Below are several of pictures I took (any suggestions on techniques to focus and lighting adjustments (for tropics) are welcome.















Jim G

No suggestions as I am not a photographer but they look great to me. Just a question. What site did you see that frogfish on? It looks like a big one how big would you guess it was?

Hi Jim,

Since you didn't post your camera settings, I figured them out from the images and I'll post them here for others also.

Picture 1 - Eel
ISO-100
F-5.6
1/80

Picture 2 - Shrimp
ISO-100
F-5.6
1/80

Picture 3 - Scorpion Fish
ISO-100
F-5.6
1/80

Picture 4 - Flamingo Toung
ISO-100
F-5.6
1/160

Picture 5 - Frog Fish 1
ISO-100
F-5.6
1/80

Picture 6 - Frog Fish 2
ISO-100
F-5.6
1/125

Picture 7 - Frog Fish 3
ISO-100
F-5.6
1/100

Okay, here's my comments...

First of all.. I love the subjects and Colors! Focus is pretty good actually! I also like that you got very close which is always key

Some things that may help (and I don't know your cameras settings so hopefully these are close), I would start with your aperture and go up to an F-8 at least, higher if you have it for maximum DOF and you have plenty of light to allow it. I would also use a shutter speed between 1/125 and 1/250 starting at the 1/250. You could even go higher potentially if your flash will sync. The higher shutter speed will help with crispness also and will darken the background a bit.

The other thing you need to watch is your strobe and where it is aimed. The frog fish had the strobe pointed more to the background and that is why you ended up with a hot background. Try pointing the strobe at different angles but try to keep light on the background to a minimum to make your subjects pop out. Different angles will cause shadows which will make it look more dramatic. Maybe also try a diffuser but you shouldn't need one for most cases.