Egypt - nr Tiran

Ok go easy on me as just a noob with my first UW attempt and using a point and shoot, but I am looking to learn so any hint/ tips are welcome.

I had to shop out a rather annoying bloke in the back ground of this :S

My first nudi (and I know "must get closer")

Congratulations on your first outing. Looks like you were having a great deal of fun. I love swimming with turtles and your pictures reminded me of some of those pleasant times. You might like the effects such as altering contrast, removing backscatter in software such as Lightroom or Photoshop Elements.

Ok go easy on me as just a noob with my first UW attempt and using a point and shoot, but I am looking to learn so any hint/ tips are welcome.

Hi, I'm a noob too but I can give you a few tips from what I see in your pictures.

At the begining we need to apply the rules of composition for our pictures, later we can go nuts.

Next time try to position the main subject or the eyes of the subject in a power point (remember to divide the picture in 9). Some P&S cameras has the option of activate the grid in the screen, I have it activated in mine.

If we look at this picture:

It looks better than the rest, why? because the main subject is not in the center.

Hope make sense for you.

Regards,

Andres.

Hi TNT, and welcome to the forums,

I think you have some nice shots there that are better than some of our first efforts underwater. You have managed to get some nice shots of the turtle, it looks like you have seen more at Tiran than i have in 50 dives there

However the best way to improve any photographs underwater is to stick to the basic fundamentals of general photography as well as using a few tips that are essential to shooting underwater. You have probably heard them before but if you get closer tot he subject you will end up with better image quality, not only from the point of reducing the amount of water (and suspended particulate matter) between you and the subject but you will also end up with the subject filling the frame more, hence a more pleasing photo. The other benefit, of course is is that at closer distances, you on camera flash will be more effective

To improve composition, initially try and stick to the rule of thirds, for a better explanation than i can give in this post check out the link Here

Your FinePix F200EXR has a decent macro mode on it so don't be afraid to use it on subjects like the pajama nudi, and remember, you have a 5cm min focusing distance on your camera so you can get close enough for a good shot.

Lastly, but probably most importantly, use the camera's manual white balance mode, this will improve the overall colour of the shots. You can use parts of the reef, your hand or a white balance card to manually adjust it and remember to re white balance every time you change depth by more than a meter or two. If you are doing some shallower dives it might be useful to pick up some magic filters check out this link.

Hope this helps.

I am impressed: some very experienced compact shooters have not done much better than your turtle images, and the colour on your anthias is very nice.

Have you read any of Duxy's advice from Cameras Underwater? And Maria Munn is about to publish a book on compact shooting, which should have a lot of good advice in it, not to mention the latest edition of Martin Edge's book, which is due...

... ish!

If you live near to an underwater photography group, come along! I think that dSLR photgraphers are outnumbered by compact users in the East Midlands Underwater Photography group at the moment, and we have a seperate section for compact images in our competition (turtles often win!!).

Tim

Thank you for all your comments, suggestions and encouragement

Composition has always been a difficulty for me and doesn't seem to come naturally.. I think I was trying to hard just to get everything else right and not thinking enough of how it was positioned. I think my buoyancy and confidence has improved a lot now, so I can start thinking more about this and start using those rules from those articles you have given me. I will look into those books too as most of the reading I have done is online. I may just have to get some reading for those long hall journeys. Perhaps I should ask santa..

I have now discovered the manual WB setting on my camera (better late than never) and I'm looking forward to putting it to good use next time I'm diving. I think the magic filter looks like a very good idea too, not sure I'm ready to lug around a strobe yet, but it is on the shopping list.

I was lucky with the turtle and got 3 visits over 3 days. There were 2 on the local house reef (Ras Ghamila) where I was staying and is on the sinai coast rather than Tiran Is, but Tiran is only a short rib boat ride away. I'd definitely recommend the reef if you want an easy dive up that way, plenty of rays, turtles, napoleon fish, barracuda, morays and more. I probably saw more there than from all the boat dives I did from naama bay.

I am going along to the local dive club on thursday as they have a guest speaker in on photography which should be interesting.

Anyway I think I am addicted, that or mad to book up to do open water to master scuba in the UK (stoney cove, brrr). So you will be seeing some more hopefully improved shots soon.

But until then, just a last couple I have just uploaded and then I'll stop boring you for now

TNT,

I like your sand perch image, the colours are pretty good and you have a nice low perspective on the fish, rather than looking down from above.

What photo editing program/s do you use? if you find composition challenging then you can try some creative cropping during post processing? I am not suggesting that you rely on this method all the time but it will improve the quality of the shots whilst you are learning Every professional photographer I have worked with/ alongside uses creative cropping etc to create the shot that they want however, I feel that it is best practice to get the shots right in camera, or at least try to

I am glad that you have found the white balance you will find that it will make an improvement in the colours of you shots.

The sand perches were cool. They were in shallower water where I was doing my safety stop and hovering over sand rather than coral made it a bit easier to get closer and they do like to pose

I use photoshop 7 (another learning curve), but have found it very useful getting some of the colour back from the deeper shots I took. I have been playing about with croping to get some better pics and it does work to some degree thank you.

Just looking forward to getting back in the water now

Just looking forward to getting back in the water now

I know how you feel, I haven't dived in Egypt since April but am getting a week out there chasing Oceanic White tips on Friday so hopefully will be able to nail some shots.

If you are using Photoshop then look at the curves of the image Apple M or Ctrl M for a PC. From here you can adjust the different colours indivudially,

Alternatively, select one of the white point dropper icon from the bottom right of the dialogue box and click on a neutral gray / white area on the image to give you a makeshift white balance.

Let me know how you get on

Tristan