Ministryofgiraffes 6 Posted May 21, 2019 Decided to take the plunge, buy a camera and start underwater photos this year, just did the aggressor photo liveaboard which was very helpful, Ill post a review later. A Jim Church trip. (Still have around 200 good-ish shots to edit and post to the gallery out of the 3000+ I took!) I still struggle as I dont know how to edit photos but learning Lightroom is next on the list. Shots are mainly just for family/kids, although Id like to perhaps print some off if they are keepers for my office wall. Always happy to hear constructive criticism. Mexican cenotes is next in a few weeks then Bonaire in August for a few weeks, would like to have an idea of editing by then... https://thefkproject.smugmug.com/Belize-2019/ https://thefkproject.smugmug.com/Cayman-2019/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
troporobo 237 Posted May 21, 2019 Hi and thanks for sharing. You’ve got some pretty good shots for a rookie! For Lightroom, I recommend starting with their series of LR Coffee Break videos. They give one-minute tips Oman a single topic that are a great way to start getting up to speed quickly. Other and longer Adobe videos then take you deeper. The web site Go Ask Erin is also good. All are on YouTube. The shots you posted look highly saturated and a bit unnatural as a result. I’d go easy with those sliders. Keep having fun! 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ministryofgiraffes 6 Posted May 21, 2019 Definitely going to run through ‘go ask erin’ I have just been using photoscape x on the standard presets, but agree on the saturation, especially on the older ones. Thanks for the pointers. I’ll re-edit all the raws once I work it out Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TimG 62 Posted May 21, 2019 Hi Ian Your website looks good and you've got a really nice set of pics there. Well done! I really like a good number of your compositions - they're fun and eye-catching. It's well worth putting some time and effort into learning Lightroom. It's an excellent editing program - much more intuitive than Photoshop - and the cataloging/data base aspects of it make managing a photo collection much easier. As Robert says, the Coffee Breaks videos are very good. I've subscribed to the RSS feed for Lightroom Killer Tips too for some years. They include some of the Coffee Breaks vids (some very good ones by Benjamin Warde). Worth also having a look at Victoria Bampton's "Lightroom Queen" blog. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ministryofgiraffes 6 Posted May 21, 2019 Thanks, I appreciate that. I think i like to approach composition underwater in a way that will potentially confuse the viewer if they are not familiar with the underwater world. I like it when/if they can't quite work out what they are looking at and have to ask for explanation... I appreciate that this is not a traditional approach, but one of the things that attracted me to scuba was the alien concept and the unfamiliar environment as opposed to safe shots....Anyway, it's something i am going to continue working on...Similarly with the editing, i know levels are way off at the moment, but i do want to approach the medium with a bit of an 'animated' coloration... sort of a comic book world....it is a big draw for me, especially with macro, hence the Retra LSD, although i took around 500 shorts to get about 4...but i'm sure that anyone who has used it will appreciate it....it sent me mental and my buddy found the loud cursing through he regulator to be hilarious..., but i couldn't wait to get back into the water with it. I remember looking at standard photos of fan corals and diver silhouettes when i was a kid and then thinking they were boring compared to the real thing once i actually got down there... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TimG 62 Posted May 21, 2019 Retra LSD! Ha! I know that feeling all too well. 4 out of 500 sounds about right! Like you, I'm off to Bonaire shortly and have just "invested" in an Inon tripod to mount an Inon Z240/LSD on a tripod. I figure that has to be a much better of snooting than trying to line up the snoot on-camera/housing. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
aviator8 15 Posted May 21, 2019 (edited) Great composition. I like the Cayman shots the best, really strong images and the color looks very good. The Colors on the Belize album look way off. Did you use different cameras or lighting techniques between them? Edited May 21, 2019 by aviator8 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Ministryofgiraffes 6 Posted May 21, 2019 The Belize trip was my first and I didn’t really know how to use the strobes etc. Pretty much everything was on auto. Cayman I had mike and mike from Jim church who explained what iso is and f stops etc, so I was able to start playing around with manual settings a bit, but I never really cracked it. Hoping that the Bonaire trip will be better when I am on dual sidemount so I can just sit on one shot for an hour+ and work on strobe positioning/power etc. Both same camera Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Andy_Marcellino 0 Posted July 2, 2019 Nice set of photos. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
