Hector1959 wrote:
I would appreciate comments, mainly critical or suggestions, so as to find weak points and allowing me to improve shooting.
OK, I'll throw in my two cents worth.
You have a lot of shots similar to mine, which are mostly taken in Roatan. I don't know your camera specs, so I don't really know what it is capable of. I'm shooting Nikon. With my cameras I can do an amazing amount of manipulation in post, in particular saving detail in highlights. I shoot at lowest ISO to achieve maximum dynamic range.
In no particular order...
The Sea Rod - it's not very sharp, and the white tips are overexposed. I find this a hard subject to light well without overpowered the white areas, which seem to want to glow. I will often pull the highlights down up to 100 in Lightroom.
It seems like a number of shots are soft. Not sure if they were cropped to the extreme or there was a bit of focus miss.
The mixed-colors Social Feather Dusters - I like the center subject. Nice and sharp, and easy to see a lot of detail. However, I would have preferred more depth of field to get more of the other worms in focus as well. I see F16 and 1/160th, so there's not much to do with the settings. But the subject seems cropped in too close, and perhaps the camera was simply too close. Or you were intending to just have the center row in focus, but it's cropped badly. Too much empty space on the left while one of the worms is cut off on the right.
Flamingo Tongue - not much wrong there. Might be a bit 'hot' (bright). The white highlights are a bit strong. I would have preferred a camera viewpoint more toward the left and lower.
White Social Feather Dusters - odd cropping. Too much dead space on the right. Also the light fades too much from right to left. Here is a LIghtroom processing suggestion for you that I think you'll like. In the Develop module, go into the toolbar that holds the Crop Overlay. Should be right below the histogram. Now choose the rectangular Graduated Filter. Next, Click in on the right side near the right edge and in the center and drag the cursor all the way across to the left side.
Notice how this filter is raising the exposure a stop on one side and feathering it down to o on the other? This filter is great for those flash-exposed foregrounds that are too bright. It you drag in the other direction, no worries, just change the exposure amount from +1 to -1, or whatever looks good.
The Sharknosed Goby on coral - a bit soft, and I think the color should be more vivid.
The Ghost Shrimp - a really nice sharp image of a tough subject to both find and get enough pixels onto. I'm not keen on the overall shade of color, but that may just be how it looked. Seems kind of brown to me. Perhaps a bit more contrast would make the transparent parts stand out a little more. Nice crop for composition.
The three Arrow Crabs - another surprisingly-tough subject in terms of getting all in focus. The shot with the anemone shows a lot of crab in focus, but misses those wild striped claws. Also cropped uncomfortably on the left. Seems oversharpened also. The medium crab shot has nice timing with the crab putting something in its mouth, the striped claws are shown well, and enough is in focus. The cropping is a bit uncomfortable though (too close on left), and it may be the sharpening, or maybe the highlights or whites need to be pulled down because the tips of the anemone are distracting. Might play just a bit with the saturation and contrast to play up the crab legs a bit more. The third shot (closest) has the crab in a so-so pose. Again not centered and striped claws not evident. I actually find the little hydroid behind the leg on the right more interesting.
The Goby Peeking out of Anemone - I see what you're going for there, but I think it's a bit oversharpened, the blurry & bright tips of the anemone are distracting, and it looks like there is another fish in the extreme lower right that I find distracting too. I do like the expression/pose of the fish here a lot.
Peacock Flounder - seems a bit soft to me, and I would prefer it to be a bit brighter. Also, the graduated filter might help a bit here.
Lionfish - OK, these guys are pretty easy to photograph as they tend to move slow and let you get the composition you want. Which in this case means you could have done better. I don't necessarily mind the fish coming into frame, though I would have captured the whole fish if possible, but the distraction in the lower right should be cropped out. Also, pull the highlights down more to recover detail around the eye, and add a touch more contrast. I would have preferred the camera to be lower and a bit more to the left here to get more of the face.
Pretty clear conditions. Where did you shoot these?
I have quite a few diving shots at my website (URL below). There is also a page there added recently showing some Before and After processing examples of my dive shots.
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Phoenix Arizona Craig
www.cjcphoto.net
