Kraken de Mabini Posted July 28 Posted July 28 (edited) 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 Posted July 28 Posted July 28 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 Posted July 28 Posted July 28 (edited) 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 1
humu9679 Posted July 29 Posted July 29 @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 Posted July 29 Posted July 29 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. 2
TimG Posted July 29 Posted July 29 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. 2
Kraken de Mabini Posted July 29 Author Posted July 29 (edited) 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 1
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