Bluespotted !!!

I took this pic in Tobia Hamra - Safaga (Egypt)

Any comment ?! Thx :ph34r:

Nice colors.

I think it could have been cropped a bit more effectively and find the blown foreground highlights distracting. (I know it is tough to capture the full EV range here)

Regards,

I am not bothered by the crop but the foreground is definitely too blown out. Were you using an external strobe?

I use a S40 with an external strobe. I shot this pic in RAW and must admit that I nearly deleted it. I looked really blown out but I adjusted the white balance when decoding the file and was really surprised of the skin color. You're right about the crop. I did 11 dives last week but only shot in RAW during the last dive.

Next time I'll use the RAW format instead ... adjusting the white balance when decoding gives some impressives results. It's always a matter of memory capacity. Thx for your comments guys.

Another point: you used the 'Auto Levels' too much, you can see that there is a red color in the sand and on the fish.

I think if you would have got down in the sand in front of the ray it would have given a more interesting angle. Most UW photographers recommend that you don't shoot down on your subjects. The composition would have been better if you were shooting upward capturing the eyeof the ray and eliminating most of the blown out sand in front of the ray. This would also have captured more of the colors of the beautiful coral behind the ray.

Sandy

Alto,

I didn't use the 'auto levels' at all ... I almost never do ! I prefer to adjust the color with the channel mixer and adjust the curve/saturation after.

But you're right about the red. I just decoded the RAW file and adjusted the white balance by 'clicking' one point in the picture as reference.

Here is the picture before any adjustment (WB as per shooting). I'm not really happy with this pic but I was just surprised of what's possible to get out of a RAW file. Thanks for your critics ... next trip I'll shoot in Raw and hopefully with a synchronized strobe.