Recents shots from Bay of Pigs, Cuba

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

I think there have been some improvements, but I also see that you are severely limited by the loss of the raw files. Not much you can do with JPGs.

On using the eyedropper tool - in general it is less and less accurate to use a point farther away, perhaps more than 3 meters or so, depending on clarity of water and depth. In the previous shots, I would recommend trying the sand closest to the camera in the shot with the diver and coral. But not much can be done starting with a JPG.

I don't worry about white balance when shooting underwater, but if I did, I would try to get close using Live View and playing with white balance until things seem close. Sometimes I purposely shoot something close to me to be used to white balance the shots around it. When diving in Fiji in 2009, I met a videographer who really had to get white balance right in-camera (can't do much with white balance after the fact). He had zip-tied a small white card to the top of one fin, and he would re-do white balance when he changed depth. My shots are kind of an equivalent, except I do the balancing in post.

Shooting eventually becomes interactive with how you post-process, whether it be shooting a white card or some close detail, or shooting in RAW at lowest ISO for maximum dynamic range. As you change post-processing techniques, your shooting discipline will change to match the requirements. Things like realizing you need to be closer to get a certain shot to come out, or turning flash down when shooting highly-reflective subjects to buying certain cameras.

This last paragraph is a good indication of what I need to focus on. I need a discipline, I need a routine as a second nature, I need also planning. maybe shoot less in every dive a choose better subjects, position, settings. I am not expecting to become a pro, in the sense of someone who make his living out of this but i like to do things as best as I can.

I had never thought to make WB at any depth and as I had said before I do little (or none)  WB in post for close-up shots were the strobes lights correctly, on the assumption that strobes temperature is similar to daylight so there is not too much to balance. But it seems that I am wrong.

Thanks,

Regards