schooling fish

My wife and I had a great time in Sipadan last month. We saw large schools of barracuda and jacks. The schools of fish were amazing and very cooperative but our 20-30 pictures of them were all bad. I was using a Fuji F810 w/ Ike housing.

What should I have done differently?

Thanks

hey, consider yourself lucky that you were in sipadan!

I didn't think they were bad.. schools of fish can be hard to shoot.

perhaps you can let us know the shutter speed, F-stop, and ISO of the shots... did you use your INON strobe? did you shoot in raw?

a strobe has to be used to illuminate the fish, and it has to be at just the right power, or they will be blown out... often the strobe power has to be set manually because ambient light coming from behind the school of fish can fool the TTL circuitry of the strobe.

and if the shutter speed is too slow, they will be blurry from motion blur...I'd shoot them at 1/125th or faster if they are moving slow, 1/200th if they are moving faster...

I'd say a stronger strobe power in both shots, and a faster shutter speed in the 1st shot...

the 2nd shot looks better when I brought it into photoshop and increased the contrast on the blue and green levels using the levels tool...

raw processing on fish schools like this can also be very useful since their contrast is usually in a narrow range, and the contrast/shadows will need adjusted...

I'm sure some of the more experienced members will have more to add...

hope this is helpful

Scott

Thanks Scott,

The first picture was shot in RAW, shutter speed 1/60, F-stop 3.6, ISO 200, no flash

The second picture was shot in RAW, shutter speed 1/60, F-stop 4.5 ISO 100, no flash

I didn't use the INON strobe because the fish were at least 20 feet? away.

hey, consider yourself lucky that you were in sipadan!

 

I didn't think they were bad.. schools of fish can be hard to shoot.

 

perhaps you can let us know the shutter speed, F-stop, and ISO of the shots... did you use your INON strobe? did you shoot in raw?

 

a strobe has to be used to illuminate the fish, and it has to be at just the right power, or they will be blown out... often the strobe power has to be set manually because ambient light coming from behind the school of fish can fool the TTL circuitry of the strobe.

 

and if the shutter speed is too slow, they will be blurry from motion blur...I'd shoot them at 1/125th or faster if they are moving slow, 1/200th if they are moving faster...

 

I'd say a stronger strobe power in both shots, and a faster shutter speed in the 1st shot...

 

the 2nd shot looks better when I brought it into photoshop and increased the contrast on the blue and green levels using the levels tool...

 

raw processing on fish schools like this can also be very useful since their contrast is usually in a narrow range, and the contrast/shadows will need adjusted...

 

I'm sure some of the more experienced members will have more to add...

 

hope this is helpful

 

Scott

The trick I think with schooling fish is to try to add contrast and perspective, not just in lighting, but also in the composition itself. I think as Scott said you have to paint some light in to put some contrast into the scene, even at 20 feet, possibly a glint of light on the schooling fish from the strobe may have helped a little. I would add that trying to add a little perspective would be helpful to the composition. Get your buddy to model with the school, show some coral, a rock or other structure, and of course try to get close; maybe even into the school, even if that places some of the school out of focus. This can add depth and a sense of movement to the photograph.