Recents shots from Bay of Pigs, Cuba

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

Your changes to my shot make it a little blue. But working from JPG is crippling.

Yes it is bluer. This is the combined effect of Dehaze and HSL.

I don"t know it was my monitor but the water in your shot seemed hazed and somewhat grayish so i wanted to show the effect of the dehaze tool.

Using Whatcolor (a tool for identifying the RGB of the pixel where the mouse-cursor passes by the water above the barracuda was RGB 112- 128 - 144.  In my version it is 102 - 102 -153.

Something that may come with the JPG rendering of your shot or with the white balance done to the original, and I found curious was that normally when I use the HSL adjusting tool try to change the Hue or Saturation of water in my "caribbean waters"  the sliders that move are Aqua and blue. When I did it in your shot the sliders were blue and purple.

I think you WB in the barracuda' s white.  I did a test to re-WB and used the Eyedropper in that zone WB sliders practically stayed in place ( just tint passed to -2).

Thanks and regards

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

I use trial-and-error to set the white balance, mostly. I do have a white balance card I've been meaning to attach to a fin, but I can never find it when I'm packing for a trip.

Once I get WB in the ballpark, I'll drag the sliders there to make it 'look good'. I'll adjust the color temperature if I think the whole scene needs more (or less) saturation, and the hue if that shifts tones a bit.

Frankly, I view the whole exercise as art. Finding a composition that works (not always possible in-camera), finding colors that work, finding patterns that work - all of it is satisfying to me, and most of it happens above water.

In fact, i use "trial and error" for most of the settings. Exposure, contrast are easy if one is sure of what is wanted. You see I use clarity a lot but I will try to reduce its use. Same for Vibrance. Most times I push up SAT a little HSL is my favorite tool to get the color I want for the water, and eventually to pronounce others colors of interest

Most of the times I play with Highlights and shadows.  HL mostly to push it down. Shadows both ways.

For WB I had told about my scarce use. It is something to be considered.

I practically do not use Blacks (or Whites) just experimentally but you show me a good use of it.

Normally I do not sharpen (most of sharpening being got with Contrast and/or  Clarity). With RAW files Sharpen is in LR defaults of 40.

Very rarely use of circular or graduated filter.  Adjustment brush a little more

Spot Removal for light backscatter, If much, I edit in PS with the Dust and scratches and History Brush method.

That' s essentially my routine above water.

it is underwater where I want to improve my routine and come out of water with shots needing just a little post-treatment.

I am going next month to a UW Photo Contest in Cuba where competing shots are JPG out of the camera.  The exchange with more pro guys is helpful and the event itself is joyful. I would be satisfied if i like the shots I do.  Last year (my first and  daring participation) I did not even like my shots.

Regards

if you're going to a contest that is jpeg only (which is mildly ludicrous, but certainly easier to conduct for a one day event), then you're going to have to pick up the techniques around a grey card and custom WB setting.

But shoot RAW anyway, so you can PP afterwards.   While APC and FF sensors can do pretty well with well exposed WA, and let the strobes do it for macro, it's still horribly limiting, or just annoying having to focus on it rather than the photography.

One other answer for blue WA shots where there's nothing to eye dropper against - go to black and white.   It's the bailout when you didn't capture any color (besides blue).

For some of us, Cuba is now off limits again, it seems, at least until our next election.

PHXAZCRAIG wrote:

Well, if you must use out of camera jpgs, then you will have to white balance in camera and crop in camera as well. I'd suggest using Live view for setting white balance as best you can, or at least confirming it is close to your strobe color. For cropping, pay a lot of attention to the edges.

Normally I shoot RAW+JPG, and edit just the better ones from RAW. It is just for this contest (and others in Cuba) that I must use the JPG's

Ok. I understand the need of White balancing in camera for a better WB but I don't get what you mean with cropping in camera.

My "late" G7X admitted some cropping in camera but to some specific proportions, rendering a smaller picture (pixel count). But this wasn' t allowed either.

The A6300 does not have this feature anyway (or at least I haven't seen it).

Regards

kelpdiver wrote:

if you're going to a contest that is jpeg only (which is mildly ludicrous, but certainly easier to conduct for a one day event), then you're going to have to pick up the techniques around a grey card and custom WB setting.

I really understand the reasons why they accept JPGs only. As you say, it is easier and on the other hand the argument is to "evaluate" your shooting dexterity not your editing one, which is of course valid in a more general context.

IMASUB  is a 4 day event with 2 days of contest shooting with at least 4 or 5 contest dives.  First day there is a dive  for reconnaissance of sites, (you can shoot or not but shots do not count for contest).

In contest dive you shoot the judge in the boat before and after dive. Each day, just out of the boat your SD card is copied to the jury PC under your pseudonym.

After all dives are made and all photos copied, you can access your photos and select your choices under each category and copy them to designated folders.

Fourth day is mostly for fun and prizes are given at night.

But shoot RAW anyway, so you can PP afterwards. While APC and FF sensors can do pretty well with well exposed WA, and let the strobes do it for macro, it's still horribly limiting, or just annoying having to focus on it rather than the photography.

I usually shoot RAW+JPG but for the contest I think Only JPG would be better since JPG can be quality EXTRA FINE while in RAW + JPG is just FINE. I am not sure if that would make a difference but for being "safe" i shoot Extra Fine. Any thoughts about?

One other answer for blue WA shots where there's nothing to eye dropper against - go to black and white. It's the bailout when you didn't capture any color (besides blue).

For some of us, Cuba is now off limits again, it seems, at least until our next election.

Hector1959 wrote:

kelpdiver wrote:

if you're going to a contest that is jpeg only (which is mildly ludicrous, but certainly easier to conduct for a one day event), then you're going to have to pick up the techniques around a grey card and custom WB setting.

I really understand the reasons why they accept JPGs only. As you say, it is easier and on the other hand the argument is to "evaluate" your shooting dexterity not your editing one, which is of course valid in a more general context.

It's more common for shootouts to allow 'global edits only.'

I'm not fond of the rule as it forces you do alter normal process where you don't need to worry about this.  Only the video guys have to worry about constantly getting custom WB readings.

I usually shoot RAW+JPG but for the contest I think Only JPG would be better since JPG can be quality EXTRA FINE while in RAW + JPG is just FINE. I am not sure if that would make a difference but for being "safe" i shoot Extra Fine. Any thoughts about?

That's camera specific, so you'd have to examine it.   But I'd be a bit disappointed if I had a great shot that just needed white balancing or levels but I only had a jpeg for it.   In the first contest I did with my first SLR rig (canon 20d), I was shooting jpeg only and had a great, but overexposed shot of a diver in the kelp.   Exposed right, it would have won me the category, and instead was dropped to honorable mention.

Ok. I understand d what you mean, composing. I always try to do it, but not always a good composition is achieved and cropping in post is a must.

Thanks

Can someone identify this animal. I shot it last year.