3 pics i'm proud of,

are they worth putting on pic o' the week, for example? what can i improve? please bear in mind i don't have photoshop, only the free picasa google thingy, that got me working on the colours a bit.

all are taken with olympus C50 PT014, no strobes, only with camera's int.flash. the nudi and leaffish were taken 3y ago in yap, the sepia last year in kenya, diani beach.

I love the first one. It is very crisp and clear. The nudibranch is in a very interesting position and you shot it from a good angle. If only that center branch of porites was not in the way it would be perfect. It is definitely one to be proud of.

The second. I love the subject and the composition. But the colour is not quite right. It has a green cast. Should be an easy tweak in photoshop. Also a one to be proud of.

The third, I think has more sentimental value to you than anything else. I bet this fish was one of the highlights of your trip and thus the picture of it brings back fond memories.

The picture is not nearly as good as the first two. It is in-focus but has little else going for it. The DOF is too great and the very busy back/foreground cause the fish to get lost in the scenery. The strait-on com composition does not do the fish justice. A front 3-quarters shot would be much better.

Both of your first two I would say are definately POW material, the third is not nearly as interesting.

Always remember, beauty is in the eyes of the judges. What you think is good they may think is trash. What you think is trash, they may think is good. I say go for it on the nudi and maybe the cuttlefish.

Joe

thanks William and Joe,

i thought the leaffish was quite cool , 'cause i like the structure in the pic: straight line from front to back, then the pectoral fins alignment, and the left side being a bit darker than the right from the whole frame. i got an other of a shark like that where again fins are well aligned, tail straight, but taken from it's 'behind' which i know is not the best angle . i guess i'll have to keep them in my personal album then. but , no, they are not a trip highlight as i dive for a living.

for the cuttle fish, don't have photoshop, have to upgrade laptop's ram first to install it.

thanks again for your true comments, at least i konw i'm on the good road with the nudi!

Well I am going to be harder on you but only cause you have the technical skills to do U.W photography right and I want to be helpful not nice. The 1st pic is your best of the three but is not a good shot compared to all the other nudi's out there. Show this and the other pics to a non diver and they won't have a clue as to what they are looking at, maybe the cuttle. The nudi is blocked/obscured and just not on par with many pics out there. You did a great exposure job and viewpoint but needed to take a bunch more shots to get it a little better. The cuttle and leaf pics arelooking down and just looks amatureish. Pic three the subjects is too far away and looks just like the coral around it. Show it to a non diver you know you will have to say "Its a fish see the tail and fins right there" They will say "Oh yeah I see it now" Not a good thing. Watch non photographic people take pics of their kids they stand up and to far back, reminds me of pic 2 and 3. Need to get much closer and shoot up or straight on if you can't shoot up. When you find a subject burn up some space on your card with all kinds of viewpoints, angles, lighting etc. When editing your pics don't talk yourself into liking a picture, Right away it should grab you and then you know you have something. You can do it keep at it.

seems i'm always off of something hey? the looking-up angle is something i'm working on.

okay: keeping the non divers in mind when shooting! also i wish i had better equipment: my macro totally sucks on my oly C50, (frustrates the hell out of me) and instead of buying lenses for the PT014, i'm hoping to upgrade real soon! (wasn't it christmas yesterday?? ), so soon enough i'll be able to fill the frame (and yes I PROMISE, i'll keep the leaffish in my PRIVATE, only-for-me-to-see album... me and my structures!)

photobeat, i appreciate you not being 'nice' and 'soft' on me!!

cheers,

melo

BTW: merry christmas to you all!

My mistake on forgetting your camera system, I looked at these as an slr rig, however composition is composition but they are very technically impressive with your current system. Sometimes compostions can be hindered by cameras limitations also. When you start seeing this then you are ready for a new system but I think you are ready now. Save some bank and happy shopping. Rad some photo books I love Howard Hall's and Norbert Wu's books but any at the library will really help with compositional ideas.