New Years Day Macro (1/1/2021)

I took a trip with a few friends over to Catalina Island, California, USA for a new years day scuba dive. We figured why not start the year off on a rockin foot by doing our favorite thing(s), scuba dive and photography. When we got the island we were greeted with a 3-4 surge, so instead of going to a sunrise dive we decided to let the water calm down for a few hours. Our patients was rewarded after almost 5 hours, around noon,(we got to the island at about 730am) the sea calmed down enough for us to safely get into the water. The entrance wasn't too bad but once we were in the water the serge was still about 2 ft. After we descended past 10ft the sea calmed way down, all you could feel was a little north to south current but it wasnt bad at all, unfortunately there was still a lot of particulate in the water from the surgey surface.

We spent a blissful 45 min underwater practicing macro photography in suboptimal conditions, about 2ft surge and 54degF water temp.

Here are the photos I was able to capture...

I also noticed that I had the ISO set to AUTO. that might be contributing to the extra noise/grain in the images. I will make sure I adjust that for my next dive.

Sargassum (an invasive algae) in front of a Golden Gorgonian. Each polyp (little hand) is an individual organism.

Red Finger Gorgonian. Each polyp (little hand) is an individual organism

View: original size

Golden Gorgonian. Each polyp (little hand) is an individual organism.

View: original size

Red Finger Gorgonian. Each polyp (little hand) is an individual organism

View: original size

abstract Kelp

View: original size

abstract Kelp

View: original size

Warty Sea Slug. I wanted to show off how awesome the 60mm macro lens is. I will try to get a photo of the whole animal next time to show the relative size of the spines.

View: original size

Swell Shark Egg, these are sometimes called Mermaids' Purse, this one was maybe 2-4 inches long.

kelpdiver wrote:

trying to remember the math, but surge will extend to a depth equal to 1/2 or twice the wave interval. It's a bit unusual from my recollections to have surge at most Catalina boat sites, but if you were at Casino Pt, less surprising. 2-4 ft, otoh, it not so bad. When it's 10 or 20 ft, photography becomes nearly impossible, though it's fun to play underwater Tarzan from kelp line to line.

Generically speaking, particulate matter gets worse as the day goes on (and wind builds), and also as the sun rises towards the vertical. In the early hours, the matter is there but not illuminated.

As for the camera settings- yes, definitely want to kill auto iso, esp on any camera that doesn't allow you to limit the range.

For macro on a 4/3rds, good starting position is base ISO (which may not be the lowest setting - like 200 on your's), F/8 or F/11, and your max flash sync speed (1/200, 1/250, or 1/320). Strobe set to manual power at 50%. For here, you adjust strobe power as needed, and occasionally the F value. This gets you the black background and full subject isolation. Angle the strobes so the edges illuminate the target and so that the water between you and the subject are missed.

You want the strobes to do all the lifting so the sensor can run at minimum noise. This does mean a lot of manipulation of the strobe arms, so better to use two segments on the arms, rather than one long one. In some cases, with small close subjects, the strobes are aimed backwards at you as a result.

Thanks for the tips. I still have a lot of learning to do. Honestly for me the fun part is the hunt for critters to photograph, I cant tell if I like the hunt or the photographing more. I feel like I'm on a scientific treasure hunt every time I go out.

For camera setting I pretty much had everything dialed in where it needed to be except for some reason I move from base iso to auto (probably one button click too many). My camera's max sync speed is 1/250, utilizing F8 I can't remember the strobe setting (power level 1-6).

I am thinking of adding a little pointer stick to my camera to give me the minimum focus distance measurement (19cm/7.5in).  I noticed I needed to back off some of the objects to get them to fit in the frame.  Again Im still learning but having a great time when I go out.

This is my complete macro setup, i am currently only using one arm/strobe and ill add the snoot at a later date. I also have a +6 Diopter for when I feel like using it.

kelpdiver wrote:

Dann-Oh wrote:

I am thinking of adding a little pointer stick to my camera to give me the minimum focus distance measurement (19cm/7.5in). I noticed I needed to back off some of the objects to get them to fit in the frame. Again Im still learning but having a great time when I go out.

Macro on the 4/3rds presents a bit of a challenge in that the 60mm (120 effective) is tighter than the common 60 (APC = 90 or 96)/ 100mm (FF). It's not quite the 160mm super macro, but once you get up to sea hare size, you're struggling to get it in frame without being too far away.

Panasonic does make a 45mm macro, but it's pretty steeply priced. I can't see the benefit to adding it, and another port.

Critter spotting gets easier with more time in the same region. Some study of marine bio also helps. Though personally I like Catalina more for the larger critters- bay rays, lobsters, morays, sea lions and seals, big black sea bass, the small sharks, and once, something that was either a big soupfin or a small white shark at 140ft. Plus the kelp forest action itself. Seems like it's doing alright there, from your shots. With the seastars up and down getting the wasting disease, the kelp forests have been taking hits.

I was toying with the idea of getting the Olympus 30mm macro but I'm not too sure its going to add anything, I might try to rent it for a weekend and do some land based photography to see if I like it any better.  I was also toying with the idea of getting the 45mm f1.8 and also bringing that underwater, but Im not too sure.  I think Ill just keep with my current gear and learn on it, then if needed I can always buy new gear once the gear is limiting my photos, and its not me being the limiting factor.

As you've already mentioned, auto-ISO did you no favors.   It appears that the camera tries to adjust ISO for ambient before adding in flash, meaning ISO 6400 and blown highlights.

Here are some things that helped me.   First, if shooting with strobe (typical for macro)l, set the camera to the base ISO to get maximum dynamic range.   That range will come in handy in post-processing.  If you lke black backgrounds, it will help you there too.

Second, particularly when shooting almost any coral that has a bright component, try to reduce flash power in anticipation of blown highlights.

Third, and it will be interesting to see what can be done with your Red Finger corals, try pulling down the highlights by a massive amount.  The goal is to reveal detail that blew when the strobe reflected from the coral.   Once the highlights are under control, you can deal with midranges and shadow that may need boosting.

Here's an example of an octocoral (Sea Rod) in Roatan after pulling highlights down by about 100%.

Before pulling down the highlights, the tips of the corals were mostly devoid of detail.