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, 20242 yr by Kraken de Mabini

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. 

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, 20242 yr by Troporobo

@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.

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.

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. 

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, 20242 yr by Kraken de Mabini

try Topaz sharpen tool to sharpen things up and remove some of the motion blur