My first UW photo

Hello,

This is my first attempt at UW photography. I bought a used Olympus 5050Z with PT-15 housing and Inon d180 strobe. The only Photoshop work I did was to edit out some back scatter and crop it down. What can I do for better pics, both staging and quality?

Hi Nated1971

Get close, and then get closser! The best advise I can give you is to get the book 'The Underwater Photographer' by Martin Edge. His fourth addition to this book is due out in about a month or so. You can find it presale on Amazon. It's considered by many, including myself, to be the best book out for underwater photgraphy (not that I've read every UW photo book). Hope this helps.

Mike

I second the Beach Bum comments. Get the book and read it. Then read it again. Then after taking a trip and try more work, compare the photos to the book recommendations and see where you followed the recommendations and where you did not. The price is low and the rate of improvement is significant.

You've got a nice camera in your hands. A lot of people have gotten a lot of very nice images from the Olympus 5050.

I would try and approach the composition by using one or two things (fish, coral head, etc) as the focal point of your image which will draw in the viewer. As it is, there are a lot of interesting things in your image but the eye is not drawn to one or two things as a focal point.

I would get as close as you possibly can (I'm not sure of the the closest distance at which the camera focuses) and use the Rule of Thirds to frame a composition that is visually pleasing. In addition to Martin Edge's book, which is one of the very best underwater photography books out there, I suggest you try and pick up a copy of Jim Church's book on Composition. Even though the book is old, the principles still apply.

I have taken the liberty of making a few changes in your image that, IMHO, spruced it up a bit. I increased the saturation, warmth, brightened it up a bit and sharpened it. Not sure that my efforts succeeded but I think you get the idea that I was trying to get away from an image with everything in it to an image with a focal point drawing in the eye of the viewer. I would have preferred the blue fish near the top of the image to have been bigger and, if possible to have been nicely framed in the center of the black area. I also would have preferred that the other blue fish not to have been there at all!

Of course, this is wishful thinking and we have to deal with what's there, but I think you get the idea.

Keep up the great work and thanks for posting your image!

Ellen

Thanks for all of your advice. I will look these books up and add them to my library. I tried "zooming with my fins", but fish just weren't having any of that. I try and apply the 3rds rule, I even put a clear piece of tape on my viewfinder with it gridded off. If you all wouldn't mind, here is one more.

I'd like to add my voice to the suggestion you buy Martin Edge's book. Get the new version. I have read quite a few books as I have been learning (slowly) about underwater photography and Martin's stands out by miles as the best I've read so far. I've read it, re-read it, then read it again a few times more.

He covers everything from the technical to the artistic, to even the best way to behave underwater - physically and mentally - to improve both your shots and your experiences when blowing bubbles.

He really is both an amazing photographer and a talented teacher.

edit - BTW that 2nd shot is cool! Also, I've just pre-ordered the new version of his book myself!

Nated -

another quick pointer - in the first shot it looks like the perspective of the shot is facing down. This turns a three dimensional shot into a two dimensional shot. Try to shoot a subject on a level plane or even shoot upwards when underwater. sometimes a bit of surface in the shot is pleasing. If you look at your second shot, you accomplished this - by shooting on a level plane with the grunt you made the shot three-dimensional and much more interesting. Good luck and keep working on it...

cheers!

- MDP

Thanks all for the pointers. I'll keep trying.