A80 and a trip report - lots o' photos

[gladtobehere]

Long time lurker here finally having something to add...

Sorry for the cross-post but I posted a trip report on another board and thought the group here would be interested to see the results of a very amateur shooter. All the photos are with my A80, WP-DC900 and internal flash.

http://dive.scubadiving.com/members/tripreports.php?s=2915

Awesome having a Canon u/w forum. Thanks and enjoy!

Marc

 

[Hoppy]

Great trip report and some great pics. You seem to have an eye for composition.

BTW Sorry to hear about Ted

 

[gladtobehere]

Thanks Hoppy. My technical skills can still use work and some day I must get used to post-dive image editing and not be so lazy about it. Even without them, my main purpose is to bring memories home and I seem satisfied with that part of the equation.

Regards,

Marc

 

[Tom Winters]

Without an external flash, you might want to try shooting with and without the built-in flash. On the pictures without flash, you can go into a photoediting program like Adobe Photoshop or Corel Photopaint and adjust the gamma, hue, and whatever else you need to do to tweak your image.
With the built-in flash, if there's even minute amounts of particulate matter in the water column, you're going to see it, and it's a NIGHTMARE to retouch out.
Adobe Photoshop is pretty pricey, but I got the whole CorelDraw 9.0 package for $30 since they're up to v.12.0 now. This is also highly recommended but I never tried it:
http://www.photopos.com/ and it's $35.
I played with your pic a little and adjusted the toe on the gamma, a little level equalization and a couple of other tweaks. It's a little dark, but hey, I only spent 20 seconds on it.

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

Nice Shots! I've use a Canon A80 and have had some great luck. Please check em out some time and give me some hints.
Secondly, what settings are best for Distance shots.
Thirdly, how much of a benefit does 1 or 2 strobe give?

http://www.scubaboard.com/gallery/showgallery.php/ppuser/24722/cat/500

Thanks for the hints.

 

[ChrisA]

It's pretty clear that you didn't just get into photography yeasterday. The composition is very good. That takes time to learn. The technical stuff is easy. So you've got the hard part down already.

What you showd us is the digital equivalent of a good set of negatives. Photo editing software lets you do what a skilled costom printer would do. Lots of software out there. I use "gimp" see www.gimp.org youcan't complain about it's price and if you are editing the JPG files your A80 makes it will do everything the full up Photoshop will do. It would be worth learning the software. These "negatives" deserve to be well printed

Long time lurker here finally having something to add...

Sorry for the cross-post but I posted a trip report on another board and thought the group here would be interested to see the results of a very amateur shooter. All the photos are with my A80, WP-DC900 and internal flash.

http://dive.scubadiving.com/members/tripreports.php?s=2915

Awesome having a Canon u/w forum. Thanks and enjoy!

Marc

 

[gladtobehere]

Yes, I have been shooting for some time - something I love about that "click". Started with topside film, then film underwater and now digital underwater (topside too). Mostly mid-level gear.

Thanks all. Some great tips and great encouragement to get past the "negatives" stage.

 

[Chad_Ordelheide]

Just wondering if you use the Custom White balance with your A80. I really haven't done much of that yet?

 

[gladtobehere]

I generally keep the white balance on the Cloudy setting underwater. I originally got the idea from here:

http://www.canon.co.jp/Imaging/uwphoto/index-e.html