TimG

Hi bennettj90 And welcome to Waterpixels. Good to have you with us. We hope you really enjoy the forum. Best wishes

Hey Zach! Great to have you with us. A warm welcome to Waterpixels. Best wishes

Hi rlonghitano! A warm welcome to Waterpixels. Great to have you with us. And congratulations on that post-kids back into the water thing! Best wishes.

Yep, snoots take a good deal of practice especially if the aiming light in your strobe is not in a central position in the strobe. It’s a bit hit and miss and frustrating. I found a snoot to be such a key element of macro photography that I sold my Inon strobes to get Retras which are brilliant for shooting when combined with their LSD snoot.

Nice work! A couple of thoughts. It’s one of those images where it’s hard to separate the subject from a similar coloured and complex background. For me, the key then is to try and create separation and an element of neutral space so that the subject can stand out more. This is especially true with the distinctive shape of a seahorse. I’d suggest shooting up, trying to position to shoot against the blue, a wider aperture to create less depth of field, and/or using a snoot. These are counsels of perfection of course (!) and none maybe easy. I know the location and it may well not have been possible but this is what I’d have been tempted to try.

Tom Kline is The Man for this and will, I’m sure, chip-in. Would a reef hook work?

Hey Brian! Welcome to Waterpixels. Great to have you with us. We hope you really enjoy the forum.

With pleasure. Done.

Love the username, Marco! Welcome! Good that you're no longer in the Wetpixel shades. Scary place.......

Hey Tom! A warm welcome to Waterpixels. Great to have you with us. Good luck with the gear sale.

We used to have a guest from Singapore at the resort I managed in Lembeh who always used what he called a tropical dry suit. Very tempting in the chillier months there. As for that “builds character” thing, I suspect that’s a hang over from the days of homes not having heating or running hot water! No prizes for being cold 😝

Dry suit? Ha ha ha…. yeah, sold that. If it’s not 28+degrees you won’t find me there 😝Definitely feel the cold in these, errr, later years. Very tempted to add a heated vest to my gear.

It’s ok. Once you hit the Big Seven Zero you realise you don’t need so much kit….. housing, two lenses, two ports, two strobes and a snoot. And you’re done 😝

Hey zoly! Welcome to Waterpixels. Great to have you with us. We hope you enjoy the forum. Best wishes