My what big nose thingies you have - Green Moray

I love digital. I get to experiment without having to worry about what developing is going to cost for my experimention.

I have started taking images where the eye is not necessarily in focus, to try and draw attention to a different feature on a subject.

This image has produced a lot of comments - I am open to hearing your yours.

Fuji S2Pro, Dual Ike 200 strobes, 1/2 power strobes, F16, 1/60sec, 105mm lens with a 3T diopter. Subject was less than 4" from the lens.

Thanks,

M

How do you like the 105/S2 combination? I like the perspective and the limited DOF, but perhaps a little more DOF would be better.

oohh.. neat shot! Incredible detail on the texture of this mean-looking but very timid critter. 4 inches away?!?! Bet you can't do that with a spotted moray!

Okay, now for my critique--of course.

I'd have to agree with Craig on the DOF--I think a little more would have helped. Also, although the shot is very pleasing with its negative space and the critters over-bearance over the frame, I think a vertical version of the shot would have also made for an interesting shot.

Your lighting is superb for a subject so close to the lens. Now get a cleaner shrimp in his mouth at this distance and you're set!

Great job! Was this a Biscayne shot? Is this what I missed out on?

Oh my!

That's one beautiful shot!

What makes it nice is that its different. I posted an earlier thread on this, in that moray photos are very common because they are so photogenic. This shot is awesome. For me, as others have said, just by turning the camera and making this a portrait shot would have resulted in something VERY special.

In fact when I get to Port Hardy in August (notorious for wolf eels) I want to get a similar very close up shot, although I want to focus on the teeth. For me that would make an awesome shot!

Mark

I missed the vertical shot below is the closet I got - thanks for the suggestions - I will try it out on the next one I see.

As for the S2/105 lens combo - I do like it however it requires some patience. Autofocus is difficult on anything that moves, and setting up manual focus is a pain-in-the-butt on Ikelite ports (I am going to try AGAIN tomorrow morning as i don't dive til Sunday).

The nice thing is when it works, the macro results are stunning. When it doesn't, it is woeful.

M

Sweet! Paul, can you tell us the exact Ike port that you use w/ the 105? I like your results a lot and want to try it. The Flower Gardens are totally covered w/ X-mas tree worms...

Cheers

James

Very nice.

Mark as for the wolfies that will be quite assured. Some of them will bug you untill you stroke them under the chin. I have seen shots with them looped around the neck of a diver. They really are more like a cat or dog. Very playful and always looking for a sea urchin.

That shot I had posted was with my MMIIEX with the 3x macro lens attached. He pretty much set his head on the framer. I have another something like you are talking about but, it is not scanned to show you.

Nice shots - I was considering a diopter for my Nik 105 but at 1:1 I found that the diopter had virtually zero effect - how have you found using the diopter??

I also messed around (in the shop) with the 5T diopter of my 60mm with similar results - at 1:1 it had neglible results.

I sympathize with your problems with focusing - it is very difficult, contrasty subject or not I always use manual focus as its the only way I can consistently get focus - at small reproduction levels - also, have you noticed that there is no apparant increase in depth of field between f16, f22 and f32 at 1:1 also (so even when I get focus, DOF usually blows my shot)???

I missed the vertical shot below is the closet I got - thanks for the suggestions - I will try it out on the next one I see.

Fantastic! I like! More of the moray is in focus and the highlight on the teeth and dark tones in the eyes is a nice touch. I think mixing the angle of the moray in your first shot with this portrait view would have made this great photograph a tiny bit better. The shadow on the head is a little distracting though. (I'm just being a pain in the a## perfectionist--don't mind me)

Please understand I am not bashing your work. It's a great shot and I am only giving you my honest PERSONAL critique. I am not trying to take away from this great set of photos.

Knowing that you publish your work now the question becomes.. are you willing to let the implications of this picture reach the masses? I know terror and fear sell but you're really portraying the moray as some kind of fearsome predator, which we all know it is not. If it was, I'd doubt it if any of us ('cept James Watt) would get 4 inches away from its mouth. Sorry Paul, gotta throw in a little environmentalist trick question in there.

See why I'd like to see a cleaner shrimp in his mouth? It's like seeing a crocodile carrying its babies in its mouth. The importance of showing the gentleness of a fearsome looking creature.

BTW - Are you using a focus light with your camera? I don't know the auto-focus system on the S2, but on my 5050 the auto focus system is greatly improved with my focus light on the subject.

Fantastic! I like! More of the moray is in focus and the highlight on the teeth and dark tones in the eyes is a nice touch. I think mixing the angle of the moray in your first shot with this portrait view would have made this great photograph a tiny bit better. The shadow on the head is a little distracting though. (I'm just being a pain in the a## perfectionist--don't mind me)

Not at all - that is the goal of my next Green Moray find. One of the reasons I posted the first one rather than the second one. The second one to me has that annoying shadow on his head and is like 100's of other Moray shots I and others take. Yes it is a good shot, but nothing exceptional.

Please understand I am not bashing your work. It's a great shot and I am only giving you my honest PERSONAL critique. I am not trying to take away from this great set of photos.

Laz, I am looking for this sort of critique. That is why I posted it in this forum and not in the "Members Photo" forum with the title "Look at the cool Moray shots"

Knowing that you publish your work now the question becomes.. are you willing to let the implications of this picture reach the masses? I know terror and fear sell but you're really portraying the moray as some kind of fearsome predator, which we all know it is not. If it was, I'd doubt it if any of us ('cept James Watt) would get 4 inches away from its mouth. Sorry Paul, gotta throw in a little environmentalist trick question in there.  

Ah, but it is a fearsome predator. Have you ever seen one of these things hunt - nasty, quick and violent. Is it dangerous to us? Well not unless you do something stupid it isn't - but if you are a fish then this is a dangerous beast.

The cleaner shrimp idea would certainly do exactly what you said - and I need both images for my library. As always I'll keep my eye out for the opportunity - and having an idea of the kind of shot I am looking for makes working with a subject so much easier as I can now go in with a specific idea of the shot I want.

Lastly, yes I have focus lights built into my two strobes. I use them pretty liberally when it is low light and they certainly can help the autofocus. Just at this distance, the difference between being in focus and out of focus is so small that a tiny movement will screw up the autofocus. I'm determined to get the manual focus stuff workijng today.

Thanks to you and everyone for the critique so far - don' stop now - I'd love to hear more.

M

Nice shots - I was considering a diopter for my Nik 105 but at 1:1 I found that the diopter had virtually zero effect - how have you found using the diopter??

 

I also messed around (in the shop)  with the 5T diopter of my 60mm with similar results - at 1:1 it had neglible results.

 

I sympathize with your problems with focusing - it is very difficult, contrasty subject or not I always use manual focus as its the only way I can consistently get focus - at small reproduction levels - also, have you noticed that there is no apparant increase in depth of field between f16, f22 and f32 at 1:1 also (so even when I get focus, DOF usually blows my shot)???

Ok, firstly the shot at the top of this thread is not possible with the 105mm by itself (without cropping of course). The 105mm will focus topside at 12". With the 5T diopter it will focus MUCH closer - supposedly topside at about 6". These aren't exact figure of course, and underwater it is even les accurate - it feels like it is closer in my experience (and I don't have a tape measure while diving to figure it out)

At 1:1 it shouldn't have ANY effect because 1:1 on the film/sensor plane should mean life size. So if you are taking an image of something at 1:1 it should look the same. Where the dipoter comes into its own is shoooting smaller and getting greater than 1:1. For example lately I have been shooting the heads of Christmas Tree Worms andhere the diopter is really effective.

This of course doesn't come free - my experience is that you lose all distance focusing - so although you can now focus closer, you can't focus on something more than a couple of feet away. Great for the nudibranch - horrible for the 8' Bottlenose Dolphin that came down to see what I was photographing on the same dive (it was a Goldentail Moray from memory).

You also lose a lot of depth of field at any aperture - and you must be careful to keep what you want in focus on somewhat the same plane as the sensor. This is a huge tradeoff. I have been told that with diopters instead of extenstions it shouldn't effect the ligthing (extentions you lose light so you have to compensate with more strobe), but I find I lose at least 1/2 stop with the 5T.

Truthfully this is my fun photography - I love shooting macro and supermacro. However it doesn't sell that well, so normally I'll shoot wide angle (which I also love) on most dives, and then macro one dive a day or at night.

Lastly - Jamesw I am shooting the 105 in with one of two ports - I think one is the #5505.5 (which is the 60mm port as well - plenty of room for the 105 in it) or the #5508.05 (which has the manual focus abilities I can't seem to get to work). I'll double check tonight.

M

Hi Guys!

Greetings from the Great Barrier Reef in Sub-Tropical Oz--it's pissin down so no Diving today!

Great pix of the Moray--dark spot on head--what dark spot on head?--easy peasy with a little Pshop.

Hope you don't mind me fiddlin'with ya image

Good shooting,

Lyin Fish

Hi Guys!

 

Greetings from the Great Barrier Reef in Sub-Tropical Oz--it's pissin down so no Diving today!

 

Great pix of the Moray--dark spot on head--what dark spot on head?--easy peasy with a little Pshop.

 

Hope you don't mind me fiddlin'with ya image

 

 

 

Good shooting,

 

Lyin Fish

I'd never mind a fellow Aussie playing with my images (I was born in Darwin and grew up mainly in West Oz).

Makes the image look much better of course, but a little too much of an adjustment to sell (well, probably I could spend the time and do a lot of work on the original and sell it, but I wouldn't feel good about it) and I'd need to remove the spot over the right eye.

I'm heading your way sometime this year - got to do a trip on the GBR - probably with Mike Ball.

M

Ha!--yeah I did it real quick--if you took the time it could not as recognisable a manip.

I do PS part time in the top Pro Lab here-as we are the centre for the GBR Diving I get a chance to see and work on most of the gun 'snappers' that come down on assignments--Doubilet/Bell/Aw/Halstead/Coleman/Steene /etc

Actually I'm not an Ocker,but a Sheep Shagger from across the ditch!

While Mike Ball is certainly excellent and well rated(ahem-ex Undercurrent ?) You've got to try The Spirit of Freedom pictured --it is the latest Super Boat out of Cairns for Coral Sea/Ribbon Reefs/Cod hole /etc.

Good shooting,

Lyin Fish