Lack of colour

Hi guys

Im in need of some help

I was shooting wide angle in Cork Ireland on a Sub at 28m

All ok except that there is literally no colour in the shots

I tried ammending the white balance on the camera, changing shutter speeds etc to no effect

Setup is D300 in Ikelite casing, 2X DS 125 strobes firing in ITTL mode

Here is a link to one of the pics

http://www.mydivelocker.com/pictures/displ...fullsize=1.html

Any advice welcom

Thanks

Tom

Hi Tom, would you be able to post more info ie shutter speed and aperture settings and iso of this particular shot.

Stew

Without knowing more, one idea might be the ITTL use of strobes. There seems to be plenty of light in the photo from the sun so the strobes may be putting out little light. That would leave no light for the colors due to the depth.

You might consider using strobes in wide angle settings in manual to avoid that issue.

Another option would be to take the sun out of the photo to get the strobes to put out more light but then you would not have your desired composition.

From what I have read here and my limited experience, strobes can work well in iTTL for macro but not so good for wide angle, on the average.

The background light is controlled by the shutter speed. The foreground light is controlled by the strobes. Strobes are most effective around 1-2 feet away maximum and absolutely ineffictive beyond 6 feet.

TTL is set based on the way the camera meters the light. It would be valuable to know how the d-300 was set although I don't think it'll matter

First I believe that you really can't take this picture effectively.

You could get close enough to the diver to have him lit by the strobes and you could increase the shutter speed so that the sun wouldn't overexpose and you could have the sun be partially blocked by the diver so TTL would work BUT then the coral would be in the picture.

Or

You could get close enough to the coral and set your strobes to manual so that the coral was lit and you could position youself so that the diver blocked the sun and you could increase shutter speed so that the sun wasn't blown out BUT then the diver wouldn't be lit.

In fact the only way I know how to successfully light two subjects as far apart as this is with a slave strobe (hand-held by an assistant) lighting the diver while the camera strobes light the coral.

What you need to do is get the diver within the strobe range of one strobe on the camera at the same time the coral is in the strobe range of the other strobe, place yourself so that the diver or the coral blocks the sun, and increase shutter speed. This will give you a halo effect from the sun. In this case set the d-300 so that it meters the center where the diver and/or the coral is or use manual for the strobes.

However if this shot was in RAW you could make 3 Raw adjustments, one for the coral, one for the diver and one for the background, then layer the three results and mask out what is not desired.

Well you got some color in the sun ball!

I do not think you have enough light on the wreck/foreground.

Secondly, I do not think it is a 'colorful' subject

Try converting it to black & white.

Guys

Thanks for the input - and quick aswell - I think I have found out the prob, seems to be the cable - broken pin

Here is a link to some of the other pics

http://www.mydivelocker.com/Forums/viewtopic/t=995.html

What I was looking to achieve was to have the areas to the foregroun lit, show some rusty steal!

Thanks

Tom

Well you got some color in the sun ball!

 

I do not think you have enough light on the wreck/foreground.

Secondly, I do not think it is a 'colorful' subject

 

Try converting it to black & white.

You need to get closer and if your strobes were not firing... well that is a problem. What lens are you using?

Anytime you lack color on a foreground subject you probably just don't have enough light hitting it.

Move closer, aim your strobe, crank up the power. I would stop trying to white bal color into your shots. That's what's giving you the magenta sunballs.

I like 2964.

Work it up in PS or LR.

Thanks Guys

I was using a 10.5 Nikon lens

Tom

I like 2964.

 

Work it up in PS or LR.

Are you shooting in RAW?

2964 is a great shot but I see very little color. Check the RGB channels and see what is there.

TOM

What everyone else said.

Either you are too far from your subject for your strobe or it is not firing properly. Note, it could be firing, but not in synch.

Strobes won't work beyond 5-6 ft, but should work out to there. If not then you may need a more powerful strobe.