How to improve this frogfish photo?

[Kraken de Mabini]

Hello, a good friend who lives in Lembeh took this frogfish photo.  It looks like she did not use a strobe.

Question:  What reasonably low cost steps would you suggest she take to improve her underwater photos?  

 

Edited July 28 by Kraken de Mabini

[RickMo]

I guess it's 16:9 for social media?  I think any autofix button will brighten and clarify it into a nice exposure.  My brain stumbles over a centered image without a good reason--here's my five minutes of PS, nothing fancy. 

[Troporobo]

4 hours ago, Kraken de Mabini said:

Question:  What reasonably low cost steps would you suggest she take to improve her underwater photos?  

I’d suggest learning how to edit using free software like GIMP.  It’s got a learning curve and isn’t very intuitive but the only cost is time.  With this shot some contrast and a radial gradient with a bump of exposure and vibrance would spotlight the subject and vignette the background. 

Edited July 28 by Troporobo

[humu9679]

@Kraken de Mabini I like the photo. The composition and cropping are okay, but there's probably not great benefit from shooting it 16:9 versus 3:2. The background is dark, which separates the fish from the background. The photo looks color balanced, and not too contrasty. I would want to see more photos to give better suggestions. Strobes always give more versatility.

[Chris Ross]

I don't think anything equipment-wise is needed.  Photo could be a tad brighter, Main thing I would suggest is approaching from a different angle so you don't have the hydroid cutting the fish in two.  If she is not using astrobe that is an obvious first step, an INON S220 seems like a good strobe to suggest for macro work.

[TimG]

If she’s asking in more general terms as to how to improve images based on this pic, I’d say think a little more about composition and framing.
 

As Chris points out, the hydroid is in the way. So she could have moved to the right, moved a bit closer and maybe gone for a portrait shot rather than landscape. Using the rule of thirds, I’d have been tempted to try and get the eye in the upper third, left intersection - and shoot slightly upwards. The more the shot would be up, the more dramatic the image. 
 

If she has a snoot, use that for the lighting. 

[Kraken de Mabini]

All the above are excellent suggestions, thank you.  As a follow up, here are two photos, one before:

 

 

and one after a bit of photo editing:

 

There is noticeable improvement after photo editing by Dr. Alan Grant of Laguna Beach, CA.

As my friend in Lembeh has no strobes, I will suggest she be on the look out for one or two.

Edited July 30 by Kraken de Mabini