7 replies to this topic

[Irie]

Well I finally upgraded from my p/s to something a little bit better. Went out for some diving and set my camera to manual. Plugged in some settings a friend so graciously recommended and started snapping away. After a while, just for giggles, I switched over to Auto and let the camera do the driving. Then I switched back and took some more. Here's what I found...




Not the greatest pic in the world but the colors seem reasonable. But the problem I have is with this...



The colors are all washed out. That same yellowish blue hue is back. And the sad part is...most of my pics are like this. Which means they are the ones I took in manual mode. Same dive site as the other one. The only difference is the settings. So what would casue this? I can see the foreground is lit up a bit...so obviously my strobe was working. What would I need to adjust to get it closer to the auto settings? F stop maybe??

[ChrigelKarrer]

I guess the f-stop ...
Download a program to read the exif data from both pictures and you will
notice the difference between automatic and manual settings.
I use this free one: http://www.opanda.co...exif/index.html but there are several others,
for example Adobe Lightroom will show you the exposure settings as well.


Chris

P.S. You should also control the power of your strobe as it is barely visible,
your strobe is 1° maybe to weak for those WA shots 2° set at too low (or automatic) power level,
cranking up the power will illuminate the reef better and turning the strobes a bit downwards will
help with illuminating the right place - the reef - and not the unnecessary water in front of you and too far divers,
creating f.e. backscatter. 

P.P.S You can also try to set the Exposure measuring to spot, measure the reef, press Exposure lock (however it work with your camera), lift the camera up and press the trigger. This should give you a good exposed reef and a dark background as the reef is ways lighter than the blue background. Matrix exposure metering can sometimes get confused by strong light differences, as matrix metering tries to exposure all well, what sometimes can lead to washout images above and below the waterline.

Edited by ChrigelKarrer, 19 March 2012 - 10:03 AM.

[Irie]

Good stuff! That program sounds great. I'll definitely be installing that when I get back. FWIW, these were taken with my Tokina 10-17mm. I didnt really intend to be taking pics of corals with it. I brought it mainly to get some shots of Manta Rays the dive operator promised to show us. Unfortunately for me they never came. But hey, that's how it goes. These are wild animals.


Here's another example...

[Irie]

Oh yeah...settings were F8, 1/125, and ISO 200.

[Aquapaul]

To me it looks like you ambient light exposure setting is a little over exposed and your strobe setting may be a little short or you may be just to far away for your strobe to reach that far. You have to be closer then you think, much more then a meter away and you will run out of strobe.

I have pretty good luck shooting wide angle 200 ISO, 1/125 to 1/180 @F8 to F11. I shoot center weighted metering and have pretty good luck.

For me setting exposure into the clear blue then reduce exposure by 1/3 to 2/3 of a stop works good. You can fire a test shot into the blue away from the sun ball without your strobe on to check the color of the water, if too dark adjust the shutter speed slower if to light adjust the shutter speed faster.

I then get pretty close to my subject from just about touching my port to no more then a meter away and adjust my strobe or strobes accordingly too get a good exposure.

More times then not I end up shooting at 1/180 and F9.5 for my taste unless I am shooting towards the sun ball or in a dark hole somewhere.

What I still have a lot of trouble with is shooting in shallow water with bright sun in the mostly white coral rubble. I can't seam to over power the bright whiteness with my strobes. I often resort to shooting ambient light with my strobes off but really don't like the look.

If you don't have it already Martin Edge's book "The Underwater Photographer" is invaluable for helping you out and is a good reference for future shooting.

[Irie]

To me it looks like you ambient light exposure setting is a little over exposed and your strobe setting may be a little short or you may be just to far away for your strobe to reach that far. You have to be closer then you think, much more then a meter away and you will run out of strobe.

I have pretty good luck shooting wide angle 200 ISO, 1/125 to 1/180 @F8 to F11. I shoot center weighted metering and have pretty good luck.

For me setting exposure into the clear blue then reduce exposure by 1/3 to 2/3 of a stop works good. You can fire a test shot into the blue away from the sun ball without your strobe on to check the color of the water, if too dark adjust the shutter speed slower if to light adjust the shutter speed faster.

I then get pretty close to my subject from just about touching my port to no more then a meter away and adjust my strobe or strobes accordingly too get a good exposure.

More times then not I end up shooting at 1/180 and F9.5 for my taste unless I am shooting towards the sun ball or in a dark hole somewhere.

What I still have a lot of trouble with is shooting in shallow water with bright sun in the mostly white coral rubble. I can't seam to over power the bright whiteness with my strobes. I often resort to shooting ambient light with my strobes off but really don't like the look.

If you don't have it already Martin Edge's book "The Underwater Photographer" is invaluable for helping you out and is a good reference for future shooting.

Ok. I'll try and adjust that next time.

And I am definitely going to have to get my hands on that book. You're the second person now who has recommended that one. Must be a great one!

[Irie]

And one other question...my T3i also has video capabilities (a big reason why I bought it). But of course when filming the nasty blue hue is back. I'm guessing I'm going to need a video light. But are there any other ways around it?? Have folks had any luck with filters?

I tried using the custom white balance feature with a white card in my hand but the stills ended up coming out way red. So I immediately switched it back. Like an idiot it I never even tried shooting video with it. In theory would this have worked?

Edited by Irie, 21 March 2012 - 09:37 AM.

[Aquapaul]

Search this forum or Google for "Magic Filters". You should be able to find out all you need to know about filters.

I don't know anything about the manual white balance capability of your camera.

I know for manually white balancing any camera the direction the light is coming from is important. The light should be falling on the white card as it would be if the sun was behind you. If the card is shaded it will not be right.