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a few from Malapascua

Started Jul 17, 2019 | Photos
LarsPolarBear
LarsPolarBear Contributing Member • Posts: 585
a few from Malapascua
6

Went to Malapascua, Philippines,  early June, to see the Thresher Sharks and the other stunning underwater life they have there...

Here a few pictures:

Thresher passing in the distance

...getting closer...

...and closer...

...and closer...

..and closer...

...and turning away.

Blue Ringed Octopus (jup... very poisonous)

small cuttlefish

shrimp with eggs

two black seahorses mating (I think)  - had the wrong setup for close-up picture 

seahorse

...and a bonus Blue Ringed Octopus...  saw quite a few, was a little scary... 

PHXAZCRAIG
PHXAZCRAIG Forum Pro • Posts: 19,651
Re: a few from Malapascua
1

I like the second shark shot and the dual seahorses best.  Could you try the following on the shark image to increase the contrast?  If using Lightroom, try this.

a. increase exposure a bit

b. lower the black point until the left side of the histogram is just touching.  You're looking to enhance the clarity of the water without blocking up the dark areas too much.  This, done right, has the effect of reducing a lot of haze in the water.

c. increase contrast a good amount (depends how much water you shot through and how clear).

d. increase shadows and overall exposure a bit if the black point decreases and contrast increases have pushed the dark areas too dark.

-may need to repeat the steps above a second time to fine tune how it looks.   The goal is something like this:

BEFORE:

AFTER:

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Phoenix Arizona Craig
www.cjcphoto.net

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LarsPolarBear
OP LarsPolarBear Contributing Member • Posts: 585
Re: a few from Malapascua
1

Hi Craig,

Thanks for your comments, I do appreciate help on the shark pictures, since I have been not too happy about how they worked out and done already several "final" versions.  However, I must also say that they do look a bit better on my (calibrated) monitor in Lightroom than when uploaded to DPR... not sure what their compression tool is doing...

Nevertheless, I took your advice and also did some more tweaking.  As you already guessed, there was still quite some water between me and the sharks (they did come closer to my buddy, but did not do me the favor) and visibility was not very good for all of our 8 days of diving..  Therefore, tweaking the pictures is a constant fight between noise, particles, loosing details and contrast...

Well, enough of whining...

Here some of the pics tweaked (I will probably revisit them again in a few weeks and do another version...):

PHXAZCRAIG
PHXAZCRAIG Forum Pro • Posts: 19,651
Re: a few from Malapascua

I certainly think they are better now, though the color seems slightly off.    How much contrast did you end up having to use?  If you have a bit more room there, might try increasing exposure another 0.2 or so, then add even a bit more contrast.

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Phoenix Arizona Craig
www.cjcphoto.net

 PHXAZCRAIG's gear list:PHXAZCRAIG's gear list
Nikon D80 Nikon D200 Nikon D300 Nikon D700 Nikon 1 V1 +45 more
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