7 replies to this topic

[m1mm1m]

Fish in star coral cavity
Key Largo, FL
Olympus E-PL2
Olympus 14-42 with +2 dry diopter inside Olympus flat port
100/f16
Dual YS-110a

Attached Images

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[MortenHansen]

Fish in star coral cavity
Key Largo, FL
Olympus E-PL2
Olympus 14-42 with +2 dry diopter inside Olympus flat port
100/f16
Dual YS-110a

Let me start off by saying that I like you shot, it certainly has a lot of pro's:
Nice subject, good sharpness, exposure is correct (if there is such a thing as correct exposure), the fish is nicely composed in the corner - all the basics for a good shot is there.

The only two con's I could come up with is that the substrate around the subject is quite colorful and therefore leads the eye a little away from the subject. (I know its hard with subject living in holes! ). The second con is that there is not too much depth in the shot, there is a foreground but I'm missing a definitive background.

I always try to find subject that sit up high on something, or where I can get down low and shoot with water behind the subject, to get a feeling for the environment that the animal lives. I hope my advice can somehow help, keep up the good work, Morten

[m1mm1m]

Let me start off by saying that I like you shot, it certainly has a lot of pro's:
Nice subject, good sharpness, exposure is correct (if there is such a thing as correct exposure), the fish is nicely composed in the corner - all the basics for a good shot is there.

The only two con's I could come up with is that the substrate around the subject is quite colorful and therefore leads the eye a little away from the subject. (I know its hard with subject living in holes! ). The second con is that there is not too much depth in the shot, there is a foreground but I'm missing a definitive background.

I always try to find subject that sit up high on something, or where I can get down low and shoot with water behind the subject, to get a feeling for the environment that the animal lives. I hope my advice can somehow help, keep up the good work, Morten

Thanks for your commentary..... now that I look at it more, I agree with everything you say and will apply going forward!

[Scuba_Doo]

Let me start off by saying that I like you shot, it certainly has a lot of pro's:
Nice subject, good sharpness, exposure is correct (if there is such a thing as correct exposure), the fish is nicely composed in the corner - all the basics for a good shot is there.

The only two con's I could come up with is that the substrate around the subject is quite colorful and therefore leads the eye a little away from the subject. (I know its hard with subject living in holes! ). The second con is that there is not too much depth in the shot, there is a foreground but I'm missing a definitive background.

I always try to find subject that sit up high on something, or where I can get down low and shoot with water behind the subject, to get a feeling for the environment that the animal lives. I hope my advice can somehow help, keep up the good work, Morten

Sorry to jump in, but I get similar shots as well. How would you suggest improving on your constructive criticisms, especially for fish and creatures that are almost never in open water (i.e., hole-dwellers, sculpins, etc.)?

I see that you mention that the subject should sit high on something, but that's not always possible.

[Luko]

Sorry to jump in, but I get similar shots as well. How would you suggest improving on your constructive criticisms, especially for fish and creatures that are almost never in open water (i.e., hole-dwellers, sculpins, etc.)?

I see that you mention that the subject should sit high on something, but that's not always possible.

Why not try light effects so that you get more drama, reveal texture and get less disturbing colors in the environment. My suggestion would then be to try working on your strobe direction turned inwards so they only light up a part/the "emerged tip" of your subject, almost like a snoot (if you can DIY a snoot that would be handy) or if you can even light them up for backwards or if by any chance partly concealed by a rock/piece of coral.... anything that would spice up your lighting.
Anyway you can take you time setting up your lighting since you know these critters won't go far out of they lair.

[ce4jesus]

A wet diopter like a woody's or inon would fill the frame with the subject. With those olympus zoom lens, I've taken the port cover and "surgically" placed a woody's right in the middle. Has worked very well for me.

[MortenHansen]

I think most has already been said, I use homemade snoots quite a lot - but it takes a loooong time to get everything set up the way you want it.

A wetdiopter would for sure be an option for filling the frame, I shoot a lot of open apertures as well (f5.6-f8.0), blurs everything else than your subject and thereby removes the distracting backgrounds quite nicely.

Living and working in a dive-resort I have lots of opportunities to go diving, and to be honest, if I think the subject is not in a nice position, I will look for something else to shoot, even if its a really nice critter, I know I will have the opportunity to find the same critter in a week or two in a better position on the reef.

Photographing cool critters is for sure a big plus, but sometimes the best images come from the most common subjects - just try to capture them in a "different" way.

Happy bubbles, Morten.

[E_viking]

I like your picture, especially the facial expression of the fish.
The Composition is also nice with the lines of the crack and the eyes almost perpendicular!

I would probably have tried to get the upper right corner a bit darker, via strobe positioning or by using a Snoot.
That would atleast fit my personal tase :-)