Hi Guys and girls, I've managed to get 3 dives in the UK during December (my first 3 drysuit dives) and need to get a couple more under my belt sharpish (to get to 30 dives before a live aboard at the end of Jan I think i am sitting on 27 now.. ). Anyway, I have been trying to also get some experience with the camera as I want to be shooting some reasonable stuff by the time we get to the Red Sea, a big ask I know but I like a challenge...
The water here is not too bad at the moment - 7-9 degrees and the viz has been about 2-3 meters so I thought i would share my first few UK photos for you to pull apart and tell me how to do it better. I have a sneaking suspicion that i need to use a smaller aperture than f8 as the depth of field is a little limited.
All the photos have been shot with a 5D + Canon 100mm Macro and Sea & Sea YS250.
Thanks in advance for your comments
If this is anything to go by, I'm sure we can be looking forward to some pretty awesome stuff from you in the future. I like them all, but espcially the scallop and the blenny.
Well... Not bad for your first attempts Tristan.... !!!!!!!!!! Sheesh !!!
Very nice me old son...
Now if you said it was your first 'EVER' attempts with a camera I'd have been even more impressed
Good luck in the Red Sea...
Dive safe
DeanB
Thanks guys, i must add that this is not my first time out with a camera, I left my previous job 4 years ago to take up photography full time, but my day job means that I have a 400mm f2.8 strapped to me and I am trudging round golf courses on tour so this is really like starting from scratch, nothing is where it should be on the housing (i.e you cant just change the shutter speed and aperture with a finger and thumb at the same time) so all the intuitive stuff is out of the window, not to mention the diving.....bloody air bubble in the drysuit!!! Hopefully that is all sorted now though.
A quick question though, do you guys use gobos or barn doors on your strobes to prevent light spilling onto the background?
Thanks
Tristan
Great pictures Tristan, thanks for sharing them!
I really like the anemone.
In what part of the red sea are You heading in jan?
Scubamoose
Thanks Scubamoose,
I am off to Hurgada for the Northern Wrecks and Reefs trip with BlueO2 on their Blue Fin boat. (It was a Christmas Present from the GF, (she will last another year ).
It is our first diving live aboard so will be interesting as we are both beginners as far as diving is concerned. The other nice thing about the trip is that we are doing some reef clean-up dives as well so we will be able to give a little something back to the environment.
P.S. How do you like the G9, I just bought one for my GF?
Tristan
Nice shots there Tristan. I still think your bloody mad diving in water that cold. Where were they from, were they all from Swanage Pier? Have you ventured out onto the Kyarra (sp) yet. Thats an ok dive if dived in the right conditions.
Happy New Year, Stew
Nice Tristan. Lighting could be improved - you are illuminating your backgrounds as much as your foregrounds - thus distracting attention away from the subject.
How is the viz at Swanage. If if stays at 2-3 m, you could tempt me in during the week - depending on how much work arrives on Monday. I don't dive at the weekends in the UK - too busy.
Alex
Nice pictures -it is great to see someone out and about in the winter here!
As Dean has said if those are you first efforts.........!
All the best
Adam
Nice Tristan. Lighting could be improved - you are illuminating your backgrounds as much as your foregrounds - thus distracting attention away from the subject.
How is the viz at Swanage. If if stays at 2-3 m, you could tempt me in during the week - depending on how much work arrives on Monday. I don't dive at the weekends in the UK - too busy.
Alex
Thanks Alex, I am going to experiment with "not" lighting the backgrounds next time I go in. I think i alsmost missed the Snakelocks with the strobes entirely . It was something that I was disappointed in when I got the shots onto the computer.... the trouble is that when the background is 6 inches behind the foreground .... I hate strobes on land, but at least you don't have to worry about backscatter!!!!
I'll PM you once I have a viz report.
Tristan
Nice shots there Tristan. I still think your bloody mad diving in water that cold. Where were they from, were they all from Swanage Pier? Have you ventured out onto the Kyarra (sp) yet. Thats an ok dive if dived in the right conditions.
Happy New Year, Stew
Thanks Stew, all of the shots were form Swanage Pier, there is loads to shoot there, it is just that I am not good enough to shoot it well yet and other stuff is too quick.
I haven't been out to the Kyrra yet although it is on my list. The nice thing about the pier is that it is shallow and you can get 3 dives out of a cylinder, the longest being 89 mins.Roland got some good stuff there, especially a nice scorpionfish and some hermit crabs.
When are you next off to the Red Sea?
Tristan
Nice pictures -it is great to see someone out and about in the winter here!
As Dean has said if those are you first efforts.........!
All the best
Adam
Thanks, I figured it is cheaper to practice here than in the Red Sea or Maldives... so... on with the Drysuit and into the soup.
Tristan
When are you next off to the Red Sea?
Tristan
not until april now. i wanted to get out there last week but i have had a bad back, so didnt want to make it even worse and then end up being crook for our maldives trip in 3 weeks. so i guess i will be out there next in april. our apartment is more or less finished now so we will be getting it furnished in april. I now have a stye on my right eye, which is my strongest eye ( many would argue ) so I am now hoping that will within 3 weeks. I got a PM from Shaff who is a Wetpixel member who lives and works out in the Maldives and he said that whalesharks are still around Ari Atoll which is where we will be heading for most of our 2 week liveaboard.
Take care, Stew
not until april now. i wanted to get out there last week but i have had a bad back, so didnt want to make it even worse and then end up being crook for our maldives trip in 3 weeks. so i guess i will be out there next in april. our apartment is more or less finished now so we will be getting it furnished in april. I now have a stye on my right eye, which is my strongest eye ( many would argue ) so I am now hoping that will within 3 weeks. I got a PM from Shaff who is a Wetpixel member who lives and works out in the Maldives and he said that whalesharks are still around Ari Atoll which is where we will be heading for most of our 2 week liveaboard.
Take care, Stew
Sorry, I forgot about your Maldives trip... I hope you have a great one out there, I am sure you will love it if there are Whalesharks -who wouldn't.
I'm looking forward to seeing the photos from that...
Tristan
Thanks Scubamoose,
I am off to Hurgada for the Northern Wrecks and Reefs trip with BlueO2 on their Blue Fin boat. (It was a Christmas Present from the GF, (she will last another year ).
It is our first diving live aboard so will be interesting as we are both beginners as far as diving is concerned. The other nice thing about the trip is that we are doing some reef clean-up dives as well so we will be able to give a little something back to the environment.
P.S. How do you like the G9, I just bought one for my GF?
Tristan
Liveaboards are awesome!! No need to drag You'r gear around all the time, just dive dive dive!
About G9 - Im very very happy with it. Then again I have neved had anything besides P&S cameras, so I can't really compare it to DSLR's. But for me (and I believe many other's) it's a great starting point to get involved in UW Photography without selling one's soul to get money for DSLR rig
Hope GF will get the most out of it
Scubamoose
Nice Tristan. Lighting could be improved - you are illuminating your backgrounds as much as your foregrounds - thus distracting attention away from the subject.
How is the viz at Swanage. If if stays at 2-3 m, you could tempt me in during the week - depending on how much work arrives on Monday. I don't dive at the weekends in the UK - too busy.
Alex
I'm not sure I agree completely, despite the normal consensus of isolating the subject, with lighting. Possibly the scallop and spider crab could be improved with some burning in of the brighter parts of the background, but I think the blenny is spot on, and I think the colorful background actually contributes to the anemone shot, possibly a little falloff and burning in of the periphery, but I actually think the shot would be more boring if the anemone was too isolated. Just my humble opinion though it's likely photo judges in a competition may disagree.
I'm not sure I agree completely, despite the normal consensus of isolating the subject, with lighting. Possibly the scallop and spider crab could be improved with some burning in of the brighter parts of the background, but I think the blenny is spot on, and I think the colorful background actually contributes to the anemone shot, possibly a little falloff and burning in of the periphery, but I actually think the shot would be more boring if the anemone was too isolated. Just my humble opinion though it's likely photo judges in a competition may disagree.
Oh, there is an anemone, there. I hadn't noticed it - I was too busy looking at the purple disco lights in the background.
Goes to show there is always more than one opinion on art!
Alex
Oh, there is an anemone, there. I hadn't noticed it - I was too busy looking at the purple disco lights in the background.
Goes to show there is always more than one opinion on art!
Alex
Your point is well taken, but we have all seen lots of shots of isolated anemones, I just think the colored background makes it a little different for me. A 'disco inferno'.
Fair enough. Then its better to open up the aperture and smooth out those background details - ideal technique with a 5D or D700! Have the colour and light there, but not the detail.
Alex
I think that when your mum says "pretty colours in the background" it ain't going into any photo contests . I was shooting at f8 an not even all the Snakelocks is in focus too much light in the background is the verdict. I must learn to control my strobes. It was the first outing with 2 strobes which might explain the lack of light control...... On the other hand though I like the shot, not for its technical merits but as a pretty picture (taking my pro hat off)
(to get to 30 dives before a live aboard at the end of Jan I think i am sitting on 27 now.. 
). Anyway, I have been trying to also get some experience with the camera as I want to be shooting some reasonable stuff by the time we get to the Red Sea, a big ask I know but I like a challenge...
).
