WAM Seahorse shot from Lembeh

This was taken with a Tokina 10 -17mm + 1.4 TC @ 17mm on a Canon 350D behind a mini Zen dome. 2 x YS90's on manual.

1/125

F22

iso 100

This was my first trip with the Zen and also my first attempt at WAM and CFWA. I like the feel of the shot and was lucky enough for the seahorse to oblige and stay in the same position for 10 minutes which allowed me to think about composition and to try a few different lighting techniques. This was my favourite of about 30 shots. I would love to know what you guys would have done differently either at the time of taking the shot or in your chosen editing suite.

Thanks for taking the time to look.

Stew

Damn Stew if had taken that I would have thanked the gods for the gift.

If you made me try and improve it I would think about a little Fill light on her face and a touch of Clarity. I'd also experiment with a slight crop to get rid of some of the bottom of the frame. Something like this;

Congrats partner, wonderful image.

Steve

Nice critter in a nice setting.

Regarding improvements - the image needs more depth. There is no point doing WAM on a black background - you just end up with a shot that could have been taken with a 60mm. So there is nothing wrong with this image - but it is not a WAM shot - just a M shor=t

You need to shoot a balanced light exposure to place the macro subject in a wide angle view. Of course this usually means a long-ish exposure - which is one of the challenges of WAM. Getting a sharp subject at the long exposure.

Also your strobes are a bit too far apart. They need to be closer to the port. This is the main reason for using a mini-dome for a WAM shot. So that you can get the strobes in tight. As they are you have lit the sides of the subject (back of the seahorse), but not the front. That is why Steve used fill-light to compensate.

Getting a good quality of light on the subject, so it is not over exposed on the edges and shadowy on the face is probably the biggest challenge of WAM.

All that said, I think that as a macro shot is works really well. Interesting subject, nicely framed in a pleasing setting.

Alex

Stew,

Is this image as shot, or cropped? I agree with Alex's assessment, nice macro image, but not really WA.

Stew,

Is this image as shot, or cropped? I agree with Alex's assessment, nice macro image, but not really WA.

Good PP work there Mr Williams. TY.

Cheers for the advice Alex all taken on board ready for my next trip in a few weeks time back out to sunny Sharm.

As shot Jeff.

Stew

I have installed LR3 30 day free trial and I must say that I am very impressed with it. Taking your crop comment on board Steve I looked back through my series of shots that I took of this particular seahorse and there was one there with a tighter crop and with a bit more even light. I need to have a good read up on how to use LR as I have never used it before, but it certainly looks a lot easier than PS4. I know that you find it easy to work with Steve and like I said my first impressions are all good. I do not have my hard drive here with the RAW files on so I was only able to edit with a 800 high file.

On reflection of Alex's comments regarding having a blue backgound and then it being WAM. I actually went back to this site to find this particular seahorse to get some shots of it with the 10-17mm as the shots i got of it with the 60mm were just not worth keeping. I have always found large seahorses hard to frame with a 60mm, the pygmy's are no easier either. lol. Yes I could have slowed the shutter speed down to get some blue in the frame but as you well know Lembeh isnt renowned for its crystal clear waters, and having other divers fins kicking up sand just inches in front of the seahorse the best solution was to make it black. Perhaps I should have titled it macro@17mm.

Stew

Looks good partner. Wait til you see what you can do with a RAW file.

Cheers,

Steve

Nice macro shot. I like the black background in this picture. It makes the seahorse the focus of the pic. Looking forward to seeing more shots.

DiverPam

Is this what you mean Alex? I'm out of touch. I thought WAM had something to do with George Michael!