Help in photo quality

Hi,

The solution to the following problem is more than likely my lack of knowledge and not using my white balance properly. My mistakes are probably obvious but this was my first underwater outing with my camera so my questions may be a little stupid

I used my camera on my holiday this year in the Digital Photography section of my Advanced Open Water course. I used manual white balance with my Fuji F100fd and also a Fantasea BigEye lens. The photos looked good on the camera LCD so I didn't know the issues at the time.

When I put the photos on my pc I was disappointed with the quality of my diving photos compared to my topside/snorkeling photos. I've posted 3 photos below, 1st topside from the plane window, 2nd snorkeling on the hotel reef, 3rd my diving photo.

As you can see the last photos quality is poor compared to the others. Now for the questions..

On some photos it is obvious that I needed to use the white balance more but is the poor quality of the last image also caused by lack of correct white balance? This maybe the stupid question.... If I white balance the camera without the BigEye lens on, then add the lens and take a photo could this be the reason why the photo has alot of noise in it? Should I have re-done the white balance when I added the lens and again when it is removed?

My 2nd dive with the camera produced better photos, but I want to try and find out where I went wrong so I don't make the same mistakes again. I am completely new to underwater photography so I realise I will make alot of 'simple' mistakes, the key for me if knowing what I did wrong. I look forward to any advice

I have a Fuji F100fd. I have had real difficulty in producing a good wide-angle image. It's much better close up in macro mode, using flash (tho' I cheat with the strobe from my big rig).

The two big problems with this camera are keeping a reasonable shutter speed to "freeze" fish movement and shutter lag. Other problems are generic: loss of colour with depth, loss of light intensity with depth and so on.

I would recommend looking at "Duxy"'s advice from Cameras Underwater in the UK, Maria Munn (also UK) and Backscatter (USA) for help with the next step, but there are, as always in underwater photography, two really helpful principles:

(1) get below your subject (but don't touch the coral)

(2) get close (but don't touch the coral)

The third principle is common to all photography:

(3) take pictures (enjoy it)!

Where are you living? There might be a nearby group of underwater photographers or you might be near enough to London to go to BSoUP meetings, and get some ideas.

Tim

Hi Tim,

Thanks for the reply. On my second dive, I found the photos were better. This one has only had auto colour applied to it.

There is a big difference but I'm not 100% sure what I did differently.

I've recently bought Maria Munn's Underwater Photography for Compacts book which has given me some good ideas. I'm also hoping to get along to the East Midlands Underwater Photographers group when that starts again in October. I've tried to read as much as I can, as before I started diving I was truely a 'point a shoot' photographer and took little notice of the settings out of full auto.

I will try to get some more photos online soon. I took loads while snorkeling to try and get used to the camera, hopefully more practice will see better results

Hi Phil,

I think what you're seeing is a photo that had very little of the red spectrum - which has been white balanced. The reds get "pumped up" but so does the noise - hence the lack of image quality.

To improve this get a good balance of light in the shot - which means using a strobe, or staying shallow - or using a magic filter.

Cheers

James

There is a big difference but I'm not 100% sure what I did differently.

My guess: the light is coming over your shoulder onto the subject and you have a horizontal or upward angle on the subject that frames it against the evenly blue water. The blue is even because you are shooting away from the sun.

It's hard to imagine how the colours would be better in any natural light shot.

I'd be very careful about EMUP, though - Cussy keeps asking me to give talks! We would love to see you, and a lot of the divers who come shoot compact cameras. A number of EMUP members post on Digigreen, too.

Tim

Thanks James, from what I can remember we were quite shallow when the moray eel photo was taken. The light was bright as can been seen from the sand and coral being overexposed (?)

What depth is it best to start using white balance? Would I have been better leaving it on auto or selecting the sunny day option? Also from what I have read since, I guess some ev compensation would have helped too? The sand in alot of my photos is over-exposed. I didn't expect too much when I first used my camera but its been good learning where I went wrong.

Tim, my partner lives in Leicester so I'm there quite alot. Stoney is only 10/15 mins away so as long as my shifts at work allow, I shall get myself to EMUP when I can. I'm keen to learn as much as I can so appreciate advice from people with better knowledge. I will have a look at Digigreen as well.

It looks like your morey is a bit noisey too - Did your camera do auto ISO or something?

Thinking back to the dive when I was setting up the camera with the instructor when we came to the ISO setting it was on Auto 400. I asked if I should change it and he said it should be ok.

The first dive was at 10am til 10.40 am. I've checked the data on the photos....

4 at 400 - these are definitely the worst but were at the shallowest depth with lots of light

18 at 200 - these have less noise

7 at 100 - these are the best

The second dive was at 12.15pm to 12.55pm

1 at 400 - again is the worst

9 at 200 - better but still not great

17 at 100 - again the best

After reading the book by Maria Munn I understand the ISO settings a bit better. Really the camera should have been set at 100? Surely with more light the camera should have picked a lower ISO than 400? I suppose I have been quite lucky to get some reasonable photos with the camera being set on Auto.

I used the Underwater mode whilst snorkelling and the biggest percentage were taken at ISO 100 so I presume this is why they came out much better than my diving photos.

Still lots to learn.......

Thinking back to the dive when I was setting up the camera with the instructor when we came to the ISO setting it was on Auto 400. I asked if I should change it and he said it should be ok.

 

The first dive was at 10am til 10.40 am. I've checked the data on the photos....

 

4 at 400 - these are definitely the worst but were at the shallowest depth with lots of light

18 at 200 - these have less noise

7 at 100 - these are the best

 

The second dive was at 12.15pm to 12.55pm

 

1 at 400 - again is the worst

9 at 200 - better but still not great

17 at 100 - again the best

 

After reading the book by Maria Munn I understand the ISO settings a bit better. Really the camera should have been set at 100? Surely with more light the camera should have picked a lower ISO than 400? I suppose I have been quite lucky to get some reasonable photos with the camera being set on Auto.

 

I used the Underwater mode whilst snorkelling and the biggest percentage were taken at ISO 100 so I presume this is why they came out much better than my diving photos.

 

Still lots to learn.......

Yep, use the lowest ISO possible always mate.

Try doing full manual always too

Like your reef shot too!

Thanks for the comments

Unfortunately my camera doesn't have full Manual. I only have control over Manual White Balance, Exposure Compensation and ISO. I've read that using the Exposure Compensation can help give me a little control over the shutter speed, also helping make the blues darker and with the over-exposed sand.

I think my next purchase has got to be a strobe, I will have to make sure that the one I get can be used with any camera upgrades in the future though.

At least I have a set of photos I can use as a baseline to show any improvements I (hopefully) make.