PHXAZCRAIG wrote:
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.
Your review is worth more than two cents. And by far ;). Thanks very much.
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.
I am shooting with Sony A6300 with the kit lens. In some of the shots (I am not sure if in most or all) a wet +6 diopter is used. I put it on and off several times when shooting close-up / “macros.
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.
I agreed. Not very sharp. Cropped at about 40% of original practically cropping to convert an horizontal in vertical . Resized to 1280 x 1920 (for sharing). Highlights were at -29% in LR. I will try to lower it to -100% and compare. Shadows were also reduced -80% and maybe that makes Highs to stand further.
However LR does not show clippings and histogram does not even reach the right end. I start clipping at highlights at +40%
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.
I agreed with your point about softness. Unfortunately for me extreme cropping is not the cause. I find hard to get good sharpness.
7 out these 12 photos are not cropped at all. And cropping in other 5 was always leaving an image of more pixels than the size they were resized to. Cropped images were 2162 (Sea Rod) , 2027 (goby on coral ) , 2000 (shrimp), 1763 (goby In anemone) and 1741 (peacock flounder)
But focus and depth of field are a main concern. With the +6 diopter DOF is extremely narrow. I set my camera to AF Flexible spot and not to shoot unless in focus. But a slight movement may ruin the shot.
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.
This image is not cropped. More DOF was not possible ( I think I had the diopter on) but I agreed It isn’t well composed. I shot a set of photos here but this one was one of the better in sharpness and I liked the trio in different color to the rest “sitting” “sharp” in the center.
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.
Histogram does not reach right end although I might see, as you, some hot spots
Touches in LR: -18 highlights, +13 clarity, +32 dehaze and +13 saturation. Not cropped
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.
No cropping. I should have done it to improve composition. Light fading from right to left has a reason (not justification) When I bought this camera (and Seafrogs housing) my old tray was not wide enough to put the 2 arms so I did my first dives with only one flash.
I will give a try to the Graduated filter in LR.
The Sharknosed Goby on coral - a bit soft, and I think the color should be more vivid.
I agreed. A bit soft, maybe too soft. Image just cropped. Back in LR I checked and found that I had not made any other adjustment to this image. I will change image in gallery with anothe with these corrections:
+16 contrast, +13 clarity (maybe unnecessary), +10 dehaze ,+7 saturation and 40% jump of yellow in HSL
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.
Image Cropped. Not sharpened. Touches in LR: -35 Highlights, +15 Clarity, +12 dehaze and +7 saturation. WB as shot (AWB in camera)
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.
Images NOT cropped. No Sharpening. I will play with your suggestions of contrast and Saturation. I do not know what I saw I original RAW of image 2006-2 (crab eating) but corrections in LR were:
-10 Contrast (??), +26 Highlights, +38 shadows, +18 clarity and +12 dehaze.
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.
This goby is not very sharp but I also liked the expression/pose of the fish as you said. NO Sharpening.
Imaged cropped using practically all height and making a vertical out of a horizontal shot.
LR: +0.27 Exposure, -22 Highlights, -100 shadows (to disappear background) , +21 clarity and +22 dehaze, +12 saturation
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.
I will see what I can do here in LR about brightness. When shooting it was just possible to focus on the eye since to narrow DoF.
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.
Easy fish to shoot. Image was not cropped. Intentionally shoot not the whole fish. Wanted to show more detail but not as much as in other shots were I shot just shot the area around the eyes. A compromise between show what it is and more detail.
Pretty clear conditions. Where did you shoot these?
These shots were taken north of Havana, just in front the city, no more than 300 feet from the shore. Similar latitude than Roatan so sealife is similar.
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.
