Bonaire last week (june 2012). Please critique?

[bgi]

These are, with one exception, unedited. The juvenile angel fish is cropped. I'm hoping to improve - any suggestions from the experienced photographers would be welcome. I'm thinking maybe a darker blue background on most?

thanks so much.

Bonaire June 2012 - a set on Flickr

 

[SEMO Scuba]

I am not one of the experienced photographers, but I do like your pictures. Very nice focus on the queen angle and great color. Frogfish was nice, sand is well exposed and not blown out. Some of the photo buffs may suggest using rule of thirds a bit more. I like blue water background, some like darker better, but it depends on subject matter and the effect you want for that photo. Some things are a matter of personal preference. Try some of both to see what you like.

 

[herbdb]

Your photos are really nice, great color. What camera and strobe were you using?

Its personal choice, but I think you could use a deeper blue. You can do this by playing with the F stop. I am a beginner myself and still experimenting.

I have only been to Bonaire twice (scheduled for a third in August). I have yet to find a Frogfish. How big was he, how deep. Any help on generally where to look would be appreciated.

Heres a link to the pics from my last trip. First use of my XZ-1 with strobes.
http://photobucket.com/albums/p623/Herbdb/Bonaire March 2012

 

[bgi]

I am not one of the experienced photographers, but I do like your pictures. Very nice focus on the queen angle and great color. Frogfish was nice, sand is well exposed and not blown out. Some of the photo buffs may suggest using rule of thirds a bit more. I like blue water background, some like darker better, but it depends on subject matter and the effect you want for that photo. Some things are a matter of personal preference. Try some of both to see what you like.

Thank you for the nice comments.

I certainly agree about going with the rule of thirds more. I do plan to run these through some slight color correction, cropping, and USM. The strobe is slightly yellow. I find that if I try to "focus, frame, shoot" the focus doesn't come out so well, so I center where I want to focus, shoot, then crop later for better framing.

---------- Post added ----------

Your photos are really nice, great color. What camera and strobe were you using?

Its personal choice, but I think you could use a deeper blue. You can do this by playing with the F stop. I am a beginner myself and still experimenting.

I have only been to Bonaire twice (scheduled for a third in August). I have yet to find a Frogfish. How big was he, how deep. Any help on generally where to look would be appreciated.

Heres a link to the pics from my last trip. First use of my XZ-1 with strobes.
http://photobucket.com/albums/p623/Herbdb/Bonaire March 2012

Very nice shots.

This was my 2nd trip using a Canon S90, Inon UWL100 on most shots, and an old school orange Ikelite Substrobe 200; all manual exposure. The Substrobe 200 makes all the difference. If I aim it properly, it covers most all of the field.

Thank you for the comments. Next time out I'll spend more time reviewing before I have to come home. I might have gone for some deeper blue after the 1st day.

Divemasters from the Plaza resort were happy to point out various frogfish, but this one I found on my own about 15 feet east of Nearest Point mooring line (however deep that was - not very deep - 20 feet?). He was really easy to spot, about 7" long.

 

[mjh]

Nice shots, you have a good eye for the wide angle. In general agree with others on F stops that darken the background a little. While being reef friendly when shooting critters you want to try to be at eye level with them or even shooting up a little at them. You know the three rules of underwater photography; Get Close, Get Closer and Get Even Closer, so maybe filling the frame a little more with the wildlife will engage viewers even more. Example: personally I would crop the moray shot another 30% or tried to achieve the same by getting closer, dropping the moray a little more to the bottom of the frame. Again very nice pics.

 

[TSandM]

Some nice shots! My absolute favorite is the barracuda -- it's beautifully lit, very attention-grabbing, and has a sense of motion. My second favorite is the WA shot with the three purple sponges, because the foreground is very nicely lit AND the foreground subject is both well-defined and arresting.

I'm a beginner at this photo thing, but I'll pass along some tips I've gotten. Consider the negative space in your photographs -- in some cases, it adds definition, contrast or scale, but in others, it's just wasted area. For example, in the coral shot with the small purple fish, I think you wanted to showcase the patterns in the coral, with the purple as an accent -- but the eye is drawn to the purple, at which point the yellow becomes a great big background to a small fish. It's the same thing with the moray. I think judicious cropping could turn these good photos into excellent ones, at least for my taste.

 

[SheilaRee]

I love image 1538a...which dive site is that?

 

[victor]

I love the octopus. Maybe a little adjustment in photoshop to bring back the colours. Been to Bonaire 5 times but never seen a frog fish or an octopus.

 

[Mike]

Nice pictures. If you're looking for advice, what would basically apply to a lot of the pictures is simply to get closer.

 

[farsidefan1]

I would like to compliment you on your angle choices. None of the pics looked like you were laying on the reef to get that upward angle (while devastating the reef ). I can't count the number of times I have seen photographers with very sophisticated gear wrecking the reef. They use their little metal pointer thingy so they only kill a few coral at a time, meanwhile they are oblivious to the sponges and coral their fins are destroying while they try to maintain equilibrium. Same thing applies to the "get closer" comments. Get closer but not at the expense of positioning yourself so as to do damage. You have a zoom feature to help "get closer" when crowded conditions do not allow it. The GREAT SHOT is not worth tearing up the reef environment. Just use care following all the get low and get close advice you will get. I have seen very experienced photographers completely oblivious to the damage they were doing. But hey, they got low and close and have pics to brag about.