Diving in GAN (Maldives)

hey everyone!

i'm new to the underwater photography (or actually to the DSLR photography in genereal) and took some pictures in the past 2 weeks, which i'd like to share with you. i would appreaciate criticism as it is the best way for me to improofe my pictures. i am using a nikno d90, nauticam housing and one inon z240. lens is 60mm macro or on some pics the 35mm.

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85 views and not a single comment? did not expect the the pictures are sooo bad... but hoped for some opinions to improofe them for the future...

Don't worry , I'm also disapointed 242 views and not even a single comment ....

http://wetpixel.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=36006

That's life ...

Hi.

Seems that wetpixies are lazy sometimes

I look at Your pictures here and the main thing I would point out, is that You have a lot of negative space almost on all Your shots, that destracts from the main subjects makeing pictures flat. You could improve this by getting closer (for example image #1), changing You'r angle and/or power of light and not illuminating the backround so much (for example image #2) and offcourse by changing the angle You shoot. Try to shoot more upwards so that water would be parcially negative space. That might give more depth to You'r picture. Many of the pictures seem to be overexposed to my eye. I dont know what (or if any) adjustments You have done in postprocess to improve this, but i think there is still some room for improvement.

And offcourse there are cases, when it's very hard to get a good picture and smarter would be to move on and find another subject in a better position to shoot - for example You'r last shot seems to be one of those cases

But these are just my opinions

I like shot nr. 4

Thanks for sharing and be sure to post You'r new results

Cheers

Karel

I'm gonna chime in here with Karel.

You've got a good start here! I agree with Karel, they are overexposed to my eye also.

One thing I notice is the shots are mostly "side-profile." Try shooting straight on. With fish this is difficult, but it makes for a great shot.

Try filling the frame with your subject. The background is distracting in many of the shots. Blue backgrounds from shooting up are also a good idea.

So try:

- underexposing a little

- filling the frame

- shooting straight on

Most importantly: keeping shooting!

My 2c. Hope you post more.

Agree with Stephen's 3 points.

Also, subjects are too centred. Try using the Rule of Thirds. And try to have subjects entering the frame, not centred or exiting the frame (i.e. leave more space in front of subject than behind. Photo #1 is a prime example. Subject could be lower and to the left in the frame.

Hi,

Your title fooled a bunch of us. I wrongly assumed you were looking for info on diving in the Maldives. I didn't look at the forum name.

You picked up a bunch of great info from the guys. Here's my 2 cents;

#1 Get closer

#2 This is taken shooting down on the moray which is always tough and looks over exposed about 3/4 of a stop to my eye. If you lower the exposure and frame for thirds you have a shot more like this;

#3 Get closer, Nemo shots are tough because there are so many. would have been fun to play with the light coming from the right to balance the light on the anemone.

#4 Nice shot, get closer

#5 Closer with a better background would be an improvement. Some of us look for great negative space and wait for fish to swim into it. I love the pair. It always amazes me how much most interesting multiple critters are compared to singles.

#6 Cool fish, get closer

#7 Get closer and compose for thirds. The bottom right 2/3 rds of this might be a cool shot.

#8 Better, would have been fun the experiment with this by moving the light over to the right a little. The anemone is over exposed by a stop and the composition puts her right in the middle. Try a tighter shot to get rid of the dead space and drop the exposure to center the light more on the fish.

#9 See that red coral/rock with the starfish behind the octo? Would have been fun to try to shoot him face on, up close, with the color behind filling the frame and the little starfish for added interest.

I hope your not discouraged by all the advise. We've all been there and have lots of shots like these. Let me try another way for you think about it. Most of us swim along and look for subjects to capture. The best photographers (I'm not in this class) look for images to make. They see the whole frame and multiple possibilities before they even move in for the shot.

Have fun,

Steve

good morning,

thanks for your opinions which help me a lot, as it shows me what to improve my shots for the future.

no i'm not discouraged now, as i was asking for the criticism to get better and all of your answers and tips are helping a lot.

thanks a lot and i keep posting