Newbie in the Maldives

[maxw 1]

Hi Guys,

So I'm still new to this, but wanted to post some photos I took on a recent Maldives trip. The trip was great, and this is only my third trip out with my camera, (Nikon 300, Sea and Sea housing, Sea and Sea 110a strobes, Nikon 12-24 lens).

Be gentle with me

[Steve Williams 0]

Hi Max,

Looks like you are really having fun. I love the dynamic nature of your manta pics. That wing tip in the first image is killer. My council would be to play a little more with the processing on some of them. The water in the second image is shaded a touch too much toward purple to my eye, for example.

 

The third shot you posted might be improved a little my increasing the contrast both overall and in the midtones. The Lightroom program I use calls that midtone contrast "Clarity". I played with your shot for a couple of minutes. Mods are noted on the right. Using the noise reduction slider showed some improvement too. You also might try try pulling down the darks on the tone curve to give the image a little more visual contrast like I tried here.

 

 

The light you captured is just spectacular. I'd play with this one a little more.

 

Do you have a web page on a site like Flickr or smugmug where we can see some more?

 

Cheers,

Steve

[maxw 1]

Hi Max,

Looks like you are really having fun. I love the dynamic nature of your manta pics. That wing tip in the first image is killer. My council would be to play a little more with the processing on some of them. The water in the second image is shaded a touch too much toward purple to my eye, for example.

 

The third shot you posted might be improved a little my increasing the contrast both overall and in the midtones. The Lightroom program I use calls that midtone contrast "Clarity". I played with your shot for a couple of minutes. Mods are noted on the right. Using the noise reduction slider showed some improvement too. You also might try try pulling down the darks on the tone curve to give the image a little more visual contrast like I tried here.

 

 

The light you captured is just spectacular. I'd play with this one a little more.

 

Do you have a web page on a site like Flickr or smugmug where we can see some more?

 

Cheers,

Steve

 

 

Wow, Steve, thanks for the advice...I really like what you did with the manta.

You say you used "Lightroom". I'm also a newbie to Photoshop CS4, of course. Do you suggest using Lightroom or can this also be achieved with Photoshop?

 

I am happy to add some more pics since I don't have a website album. I'm kind of self conscious about the quality of my shots I guess.

[maxw 1]

Wow, Steve, thanks for the advice...I really like what you did with the manta.

You say you used "Lightroom". I'm also a newbie to Photoshop CS4, of course. Do you suggest using Lightroom or can this also be achieved with Photoshop?

 

I am happy to add some more pics since I don't have a website album. I'm kind of self conscious about the quality of my shots I guess.

 

 

Here's another one.

[Steve Williams 0]

Max,

You can do any of the adjustments in CS4, I just find LR easier to use. I really like the reflection in the new one you added.

 

You might want to check out Flickr. It's a good place to get started posting some of your images. It's free (with ads) and there are a bunch of great groups to add your images to. It''s one of the best ways to share your pictures and a wonderful way to see what others are doing. One of the best ways to improve is to see what others are shooting and there are thousands of good images there. Wetpixel has a group and there are lots of other good ones. Check out the FiNs group too.

 

Cheers,

Steve