What do you all want to read?

Hello everyone,

my name is Eli Mtz, I am the publisher of Shark Diver. I am planning a new column for the mag, all on digital photography but before I begin making plans for it in upcoming issues, I would like your opinion on what kind of article you all would like to read and/or see. Since I am personally not a photographer, I would like your help on this if possible.

Cheers and thanks in advance,

Eli

www.sharkdivermag.com

Hello from Houston Eli,

I would like to see more information about how to get close to big animals.

Cheers

James

Who will write it?

Important things like when I swim up to a Shark and stick the camera in his face will it eat me when the flash goes off?

Ryan, good question and something I was wondering about as well.

Cheers

James

the answer to that question is not because of the flash.

and I would quite like to see an article on the digital photography of the animals in animal face off such as seen on TV (discovery channel) .. and maybe someone could actually write about what it was like to take photos of a Salt water Crocodile fighting a Great White with their digital underwater camera.

and personally if i were you i'd not ask us .. what you want to read but emply someone that either does underwater digital photography, or used to do it at least. And they will then know what to write about and how to write about it.

Dont get a guy who just dives or writes to write it.

Hey thanks for the different opinions, it is what I am looking for. the reason I ask you all is when I approach a writer and ask them to write a column, the first thing they ask me is what do I want them to write about. So although the person I ask is maybe an expert or very knowledgeable on digital photography, they may not have a clue on where to begin or start an article. It is easy to get writers block. But if I ask them to write a specific article, I get an article turned in on a timely manner because they are focused on the subject matter and can pound away on the key board. And these articles will be for like minded people like yourselves.

So I like where this is going please continue.

"How to get close to big animals is a good one".

Cheers

Eli

OK - that idea will cost you a $60 consulting fee! LOL

Cheers

James

Since half of digital photography is the editing post shooting. Half the articles should be on how to effectively edit your shots to get maximum results.

Maybe articles on suggested techniques and settings for specific subjects and backgrounds.

I like that ... half of digital photography is the post processing.

that all depends on your approach to the photography.

I was just discussing this with Alex Mustard today. Now I like a good opinionated discussion and this may well start one.

In my opinion if you consider the post processing to be any more than it would be with regular photography then you are of a different mind to me.

I like to get it right with the image. Post processing for me is merely maybe renaming the file, putting it into a foder on my computer that suits it. Maybe uploading to my website if it is that good or different.

Maybe I will adjust the exposure but thats no more than I would do when printing the image if i needed it.

Now what i would like to know ... is if you consider the post processing to be half the process ... what are you doing with your images, and how many of them ... and do you seriously do that every time you have a shoot. Do you have too much time on your hands ?

I like to get it right with the image. Post processing for me is merely maybe renaming the file, putting it into a foder on my computer that suits it. Maybe uploading to my website if it is that good or different.

 

Maybe I will adjust the exposure but thats no more than I would do when printing the image if i needed it.

I strongly agree with Giles's comments. I get annoyed when I see or hear of digital UW Photographers who take mediocre images and then fix them in Photoshop. Exposure adjustment and cropping is all I ever do in post processing.

Maybe this needs to be moved to its own thread.....

Bruce Dickson

I like that ... half of digital photography is the post processing.

 

that all depends on your approach to the photography.

I was just discussing this with Alex Mustard today. Now I like a good opinionated discussion and this may well start one.

In my opinion if you consider the post processing to be any more than it would be with regular photography then you are of a different mind to me.

 

I like to get it right with the image. Post processing for me is merely maybe renaming the file, putting it into a foder on my computer that suits it. Maybe uploading to my website if it is that good or different.

 

Maybe I will adjust the exposure but thats no more than I would do when printing the image if i needed it.

 

Now what i would like to know ... is if you consider the post processing to be half the process ... what are you doing with your images, and how many of them ... and do you seriously do that every time you have a shoot. Do you have too much time on your hands ?

Giles,

You know what, I was going to better explain what it is that I meant by 50% of the shot being editing but based on your rude response, screw it.

You apparently take each and every shot perfectly and truly must be in a completely different level than I with lots of time on your hands.

. I get annoyed when I see or hear of digital UW Photographers who take mediocre images and then fix them in Photoshop

You might as well get annoyed with people using flash underwater, or filters to adjust the colors, or Velvia to get super saturated blues as well. Photoshop and RAW conversion software are tools, nothing more. They're just faster ways to do the same things that people have been doing with film techniques for years. If that still annoys you, well, I'd suggest an anger management course.

Todd, could you elaborate on what you meant? I'd personally like to hear it, even if Giles' response was less than constructive or polite.

Tom

Tom, for you I'll elaborate in the PS thread in post processing forum so as not to highjack Eli's thread.

I like that ... half of digital photography is the post processing.

...

Now what i would like to know ... is if you consider the post processing to be half the process ... what are you doing with your images, and how many of them ... and do you seriously do that every time you have a shoot. Do you have too much time on your hands ?

If you underestimate the importance of post-processing, you will probably be left in the dust as technology and post-processing techniques improve. For personal reasons, you can certainly adhere to purist techniques when it comes to digital photography, but you shouldn't attack anyone else for having a different way of approaching their art.

And this this last line: "Do you have too much time on your hands ?" -- is a bit rude and... unproductive!

It looks like we aren't helping Eli much. Sorry, Eli!

Hi Guys,

I kind of undertand both sides of this. Post processing is a wonderful option we have today, a great benefit. However, understanding the fundmentals of photography is still important in order to accomplish what you set out to accomplish.

I kind of understand Giles (although the post could have been formulated differently and posted after a few moments of thought, but that's the danger of the technologies of today). I have had similar thoughts lately; I attend a local photography club that is "lead" by a guy who claims he has been a pro for 30+ years. He tells us that understanding appreture and shutter speed is no longer necessary, anything can be done in PS. He often refers to Ansel Adams postprocessing of this-or-that famous photo and tells us how even Ansel Adams did not create his pics at the shooting stage. This irritates me to no end for some reason :twisted: maybe it is because to me the fun and challenge is to achieve the picture I had in mind while shooting. Or maybe it is purely because I truly belive that it IS important to understand the limitations and possibilities of your equipment, as well as fundamental techiques to get where you want to go.

Maybe THIS subject would make an interesting article for the magazine, since we do seem to have opinions on this?

Oh, one more thing...I actually WOULD like to read about how you can approach sharks and other large animals with your camera and photograph them. I am a newbie, so this might seem silly... but I will admit... I get a bit nervous about the flash... what if the shark (or even the barracuda, please don't laugh :oops: ) associates the flash with the "flash" of a silvery fish-dinner swimming by? Or worse, what if he just gets plain out pissed off at me disturbing him or her? I think it could happen... I got kicked by a (deceivingly) friendly looking domesticated horse that wasn't in the mood to be photographed!

Now, I know all about sharks not having blond plump scandinavian ladies on their favorite dinner menu, and I have dove long enough not to hear the jaws tune in my head anymore, so I won't need to be told the "he sees you as just another large predator" line... I am SURE that I am not the only one who has pondered the "to flash or not to flash" question as well as other "how to get close" questions...

Marjo,

Thank you! You expressed so well what I was trying to say about post processing vs getting it right in-camera.

Now if I could just get Blue Cross to pay for an anger management class in Palau I'd be all set.

Bruce Dickson

Nah Bruce, Palau won't fly... but they MIGHT pay for one IN THE US, like here on St. Croix USVI! And our diving is INCREDIBLE. There's another subject for Shark Diver Magazine and other dive magazines... why not break the mold and write about a different destination! I read about Belize, the Bahamas and Cayman Islands over and over again. It's boring to read. (Fathoms is the one exception, they have written about advenures in St. Croix a bit, but the other magazines have done so quite seldom). Here we have this GEM of an island, with more diverse and incredible diving than anywhere else in the Caribbean, and no-one seems to notice! When I walk out my door I'm feets away from the largest living reef in the US, a 14000 ft vertical wall, wrecks, small critters such as seahorses, frogfish and batfish as wells as large pelagics for example just about any flavor shark, assorted rays and even whales, shortly anything and everything except other divers. I am not working for a local diveshop or trying to promote some business (although I of course do want to support our local economy), it is just my true and honest opinion that it is very strange that such an amazing and easily accessible dive destination can still be so unspoiled and largely kept a "secret". So write about St. Croix and other "undiscovered and new" exciting dive destinations! Something that we haven't already read many times!

Howdy Eli,

I can see an issue in terms of the target for your columns and the likely level of photographic experience of your readership. Speaking for my self, I don't want or need more in the way of "beginner digital photography" columns, and I think a large proportion of the readership here is probably in a similar position.

I would like to see articles about things like balancing gels on strobes and available light, or using coloUr correction gels on wideangles when shooting near the surface (I'll put in a plug for Craig Jones and/or Alex Mustard here, you should ask them for something...). This is an area that would be of interest to advanced photographers and is relevant to shooting large sharks in shallow water, where strobes don't do the job.

But... the article I just summarized above is probably not going to satisfy someone who is just wondering about getting into digital photography, should they go "prosumer" or dSLR, that sort of thing. These people may be interested in articles about just how much you can actually do with a lower end digital camera, as well as the pitfalls of shutterlag.

I would like to see articles about good shark diving/shooting locations, from the perspective of a travelling photographer. How hard is it to get to Durban, what is the water like off the Guadalupe islands, can you by DVD-R's in the Solomons and do you need a voltage adaptor. Those sorts of things.

Hope this gives you some ideas.