C&C Anemone

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PapaBob

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C&C...what a great idea Caloy! The following are 4 frames I took of an anemone last weekend north of the Boynton Inlet. They were RAW shots loaded into the ACR and converted to Jpeg with no adjustments at all. No Photoshop. As shot.

What I would like to know is which of the 4 do you like the best (assuming you can crop the photo if you want ... suggest the crop). Also, what parts of the selected image do you think need work. I have my own ideas but appreciate the input. I can always learn from what others think of the composition and needed adjustments.

---Bob




Anemone.jpg
 
Interesting series of shots Scubabobuba...

1 would have to be my favourite, you're filling the frame, pretty close to the subject, anemone is in focus.

I see some problems with the strobe lighting though, it's uneven and they're hotspots on the left while the right side of the photo is a bit dark/underlit.....
Note that I don't have a strobe so probably don't know what i'm talking about :D.

4 is too far away..., doesn't really work as a reefscape type shot for me,.
3 is closer but I don't like the angle.
2 is a no no with the out of focus coral in the foreground, although you could crop it out.

I'd crop a little bit of pic 1 so the anemone is filling the frame more and crop from 1 in the image leftwards.....

Do some work in Photoshop levels, curves, hue/saturation, sharpening et cetera and you have a winner :D :D.
Also I don't know if it was possible at the time but maybe get a bit closer in 1, get lower and take a shot of the anemone from the right........ sorta have it looming over you in the pic?

Always love seeing Boynton shots, it's one of my favourite places to dive :).

Can you give us the EXIF on these shots?
 
Compsition wise....it is boring! Either get REALLY close (as in macro) where you can see alot of detail; or shoot it WA with the anemone in one corner along with some reef and blue water (looking up).

This is purely MHO,
Dave
 
OK, here are the things I see that might be worth looking at next time:

1 - the lighting. The strobe placement isn't good here as you have a very hot spot on the left, but no real good lighting on the "subject". Anemones are wonderful to light, they can really glow. The light here has only caught the edge of the anemone and so you also get two totally different colours on the arms, and it doesn't work here.

2 - there's no subject. Yes, I see the anemone. But I also see a whole bunch of orangey things and other bits and bobs. It's simply too busy and the angle isn't beneficial to the subject. If the anemone it meant to be the subject then you need to consider different ways to capture it:
- get closer so the anemone totally dominates;
- get lower; so the arms stand out from the background and don't get lost or compressed into one dimensional feeling
- get closer with a wider lens and present the anemone in CFWA with the reef scene behind it. Make sure the anemone is the dominate subject and the reef scene compliments it...if it doesn't, junk this idea or it will simply look cluttered.
- get closer and concentrate on the patter of arms, the pattern on the arms or tips of the tentacles. Make it a super macro photo.

3 - look carefully.
- Do I see little yellow fishies? Patience, getting closer and trying to get one of those guys in the tentacles would be fab.
- I love the glow you've got in #3 just peeking out of the anemone. Definitely worth spending some time to really capture the simple, elegant beauty of this anemone.
- Go vertical. You've got some neat stuff behind the anemone that might be nice in a whole photo. But you need to get lower, shoot up and frame vertically. You'll also need to watch your lighting and your settings to control the background. But it has the potential to be a really nice reef scene. Nice thing about anemones is you can go back LOL

So, although none of these do it for me, in each image I found something that I can learn from and that can lead me to the "great" image with this subject that I would be looking for. YMMV but HTH
 
Jam: I was shooting the 20D with the 10-22mm efs lense covered by the 8" dome port. I have a short in my dual sync cord so I decided to experiment and use my old Ike 225 as a single strobe. This is why all the light comes from the left. This strobe is before digital so no TTL is available. I shot manual at 200iso, 1/100 sec at f6.3. The strobe was set at 1/4 or ½ power (I don’t remember which).

Thanks for your review of the images. I like the fact that another set of eyes view them as you will see things I will miss.

DBH: As you can tell, macro was not an option. Anyone know how to swap dslr lenses underwater? (Just kidding). I did shoot at 22mm to get as close to the subject as I could. You make a good point that I could have zoomed back to 10mm for a few shots to see how they worked. The subject was on the top of the reef and not on an edge. Shot #3 is about as low as I could get without contact with the reef. Since I can’t reshoot, can you suggest an image and a crop that might add some drama and be less boring?

Alcina: Although my angles were limited by the reef, I could have worked them more than I did. I totally spaced out the fish. I could have timed a shot since the Anemone was not going anywhere. As to strobe placement, it was fixed and therefore dictated by the angle of the strobe and camera. I should have tried different lighting angles. Going vertical would have put the strobe at the top of the image and given a more "sunlike" pic. It probably would have given better lighting on the foreground and removed some of the color cast.

All: Thank you for taking the time to comment. Maybe I can salvage something post processing but it is always preferable to get it right out of the camera.

---Bob
 
I'll cast my vote for picture number two. I like the way the little yellow cleaner wrasse is framed by the anemone.

I can't tell that you used a strobe on these shots, which is fine; however, the color saturation suffers noticeably as the distance between you and the anemone increases slightly.

Cropped tight (lose the background), horizontally or vertically, as long as the wrasse is in sharp focus (I can't tell), I think it has the makings of a decent shot. Apply the rule of thirds as you crop, then crank up the reds a bit.

Enjoy!
 
I'm confused why your strobe placement was fixed? Was your arm non-detachable and/or in a configuration that couldn't be moved? Love to know - can't visualise it!

I only shoot a single strobe with all of my lenses down to 17mm ish so know there are usually work arounds to make the lighting better. It ain't easy with the UWA, but it is do-able :wink:
 
After re-reading my post, I didn't mean to sound so harsh. I am an Engineer and am not to eloquent with my wording. With experience, you will learn that there is shots youi just need to pass on if you don't have on the correct lens. Try to remember where the subject is for the next dive when you do have the correct lens. I tried to download #4 since it has some blue water in the background to see what I could do with it. If you e-mail #4 to me I will take a shot at it.

dbhaupt@yahoo.com

Dave
 
Dave - fwiw I didn't think your post came off as harsh. Honest, yes. Helpful, yes. Bief, yes :wink:

C&C has got to be a place where members are allowed to give honest opinions and to provide advice on how to do better next time or it will simply turn into another place to get a bunch of "well dones" without any direction.

Course, it wasn't my shot and Bob may feel totally different :wink:
 
Alcina: The old 225 is on a single strobe arm that sits in a handle. I pivots from the handle and where the strobe connects to the arm, and you can remove it from the handle to free hold it by the arm (although this is very awkward with a big strobe and big dslr housing). I had all the pivot points tight and the strobe positioned so the right side of the light cone would (hopefully) catch the subject. That is what I meant by “fixed.” I could have loosened the screws, so to speak, and attempted different strobe to subject angles.

Dave: Alcina is right on and let me add some observations. One problem with board posts is the fact that this is a non verbal medium. You cannot detect vocal inflection or body language and there is no eye contact so it difficult to convey intent. “Smilies” help but are not always the answer. There are any of a number of my posts that I intended to be positive but, in retrospect, could easily be taken the wrong way. My rule is to interpret a post in the most positive light.

The Anemone was a good photoOp for a S. Florida dive since you rarely see them that size and that much in the open. I had time for 6 shots before I had to catch up with the drift team and I really thought I had something special. The actual results weren’t doing it for me which is why I posted the best 4 frames for critique. When you called them “boring” I had to chuckle because I could not think of an apt description of what was bothering me. Had you stopped there your comment would not have meant much, but you offered observations and suggestions and took the time to be constructive. I did not interpret it as “harsh.” To the contrary, I appreciate the continuing interest.

Brent: Thanks for the comments. When I have some time for post processing I am going to see if I can make your ideas work.


—Bob
 
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