I feel stuck

Hi community..my name its juan..im a dive instructor and an underwater photographer living in the riviera maya..and the title basically saiys it all.."i feel stuck.."..and honestly dont know exactly wath it is..if im already tired of the same subjet always..(here is basically each dive its school of  grunts, porkfish, some trumpet fish, once in a while nurse shark and moray eels.and a wreck) yes i go to cenotes once in a while but im more into shooting marin life ..i shoot wide angle.i have canon 7d with a tokina 10 17mm , a tokina 11 16..an aquatica housing and a 8" dome and a mini dome..2 sea & sea ys110a strobes...but i feel like im always shooting the same subjects , and trying to find some.other ways to shoot them nut never is quit amazing..my instagram its @maglianojuan if u want to take a look to my pics...so i dont.know if u have any tips , excersies,?..that can help me...maybe save some money and buy me a ticket to the red sea??..hahaha..why not right?..cant for the moment...thanks in advanced to everyone.

There are so many different styles and types of underwater photography, there is no need to limit yourself to one style such as "Im a wide angle shooter". Your work on your Instagram shows great technical proficiency, why not try and expand into true macro, or supermacro, all it takes is an extra lens and port. I think you'll find it rewarding working on a new aspect, and you'll feel reinvigorated when you bring the wide angle back out. 

Additionally you could incorporate a "mission" into your shoots through detailed fish surveys like through REEF or coral monitoring programs. You clearly have the skills to benefit a few of those causes. 

Good ideas there from Sharkhotub.

I went through the same thing a few years back whilst working in the Lembeh Straits. A visiting photo guru recommended seeking out interesting backgrounds (mono-colour bits of reef - reds, yellow and other bits of neutral space) and then looking for critters on them. That worked for me and got me away from shooting fish portraitzzzzzzzz...

Something I'm trying now is back and "interior" lighting. So lighting up, say, feather dusters from inside (see example) Call me pretentious, but I'm having a go at trying to create pieces of "art" rather than fish pictures.

Thanks guys for your answers, i really appreciate your time to reply....as well thanks for taking the time yo check my pics..well yeap macro  its a really interested option  ..but involved some $$$$.. meanning a lens..assuming a canon 60mm, the port , and maybe why not a +5 diopter..but well money that unnfortenlly dont have right now..maybe ill tray to find some used here..so will see how it goes. And sharkhittub, i tried already that offer my services, free,  for monitoring coral with really no much ansewer, i think maybe i should tring again in this part of mexico.

Tim i love your pi ture..and at ine point i found  my self there too, tryin to do more artistics underwater photography, but i found its fiving me much to think with wide angle ..any tip for this?..thanks again guys for your replys

10 minutes ago, juanmag said:

i found  my self there too, tryin to do more artistics underwater photography, but i found its fiving me much to think with wide angle ..any tip for this?.

How about CFWA? Could you run to a Kenko 1.4 TC and the extra EXR/zoom ring for it?

If not, I'd suggest wide-angle shots of corals, feather dusters and the like isolated against dramatic sunspots. So probably shooting upwards into the sun. Identifying good subjects will be challenging and getting the angles and exposures equally so. 

Yeah tim, most sure i will end up as well qith the kenko, but now thinkin maybe get a properly macro gear...but mist sure ill end up with the kenko sooner or later...

And 

23 minutes ago, TimG said:

shooting upwards into the sun

Its wath i ve been doing lately..just some times to find a more interesting subject its wath im fighting with....i think i just have to reset my mind a little bit and start thinking different or ...dont know..ha..thanks again tom for your reply..you are always able to answer and help who ever needs it..

On 12/17/2021 at 12:57 AM, juanmag said:

Thanks guys for your answers, i really appreciate your time to reply....as well thanks for taking the time yo check my pics..well yeap macro  its a really interested option  ..but involved some $$$$.. meanning a lens..assuming a canon 60mm, the port , and maybe why not a +5 diopter..but well money that unnfortenlly dont have right now..maybe ill tray to find some used here..so will see how it goes. And sharkhittub, i tried already that offer my services, free,  for monitoring coral with really no much ansewer, i think maybe i should tring again in this part of mexico.

Tim i love your pi ture..and at ine point i found  my self there too, tryin to do more artistics underwater photography, but i found its fiving me much to think with wide angle ..any tip for this?..thanks again guys for your replys

If you are wanting to do Macro , the 60mm is a popular choice in APS-C, though Canon recently discontinued it, so definitely looking second hand.  The working distance on the 60mm is quite short already with 86mm working distance at 1:1.  So adding a diopter is not a huge benefit as they work by allowing you focus closer so it would be very difficult to light a +5 diopter might focus at around 45mm at max magnification . 

At a pinch you could probably put the 60mm macro in the mini dome, though you might need an extension and you'd lose out on the flat port magnification.  Not as easy to get in close to really small critters but it would get you started while you saved for a flat port.

If you feel stuck diving in Mexico with all that huge critters and corals, imagine me trying to take pictures in the Mediteranean, in Ibiza. What I think it's happening you is that you are tired to make the same dives once and again. That happens to me continuosly. If I was in your shoes i would try supermacro with the 100 mm, it's a little more difficult to dive with instead of the 60 mm, and try night dives. Most of my best pictures are made during the night dives. Looking at your profile it's obvious than you have a great technique. Try different lightings, such as snoots or hidden strobes. If you want take a look to my instagram @atussub1 there you can see different techniques.

Hi guys ..merry christmas first of all...

Hey Tim theres any real difference between the 2 kenko 1.4x tc availables?..cuz ther is it in price..i mean between the TELEPELUS HD DGX   and the TELEOLUS PRO 300 ?. For doing CFWA

Atus yeah i think.maybe thats waths happend to me..same dive sites..or just a simply block in my head..well.not that simply cuz its seems quit hard to get it out of my way jjeje....but im leading to play around with lighting stuff first and see how it goes....nice pictures by th way!!!

Have a good one everyone.

8 hours ago, juanmag said:

Hey Tim theres any real difference between the 2 kenko 1.4x tc availables?..cuz ther is it in price..i mean between the TELEPELUS HD DGX   and the TELEOLUS PRO 300 ?. For doing CFWA

Hey juanmag - Merry Christmas to you too. Hope you're having a fun day.

The difference I have found is that you need to pick one depending on which combination of body and lens you use. They don't all work together!  

Have a read of this thread:

View archived post in: Z7 with 8-15 Fisheye + 1.4 Kenko

I'm afraid I don't know what the score is with Canon bodies but I'm sure someone can help.....

Is the answer reside in equipment or locations? Have you tried diving elsewhere, or even snorkeling in laguna, lakes or stream (I think there is not many in your area thought)? May be just changing the way you explore underwater could give new perspectives and new subjects to shoot.

A couple of ideas for you.  I have something of a similar experience in that most of my diving in the last 5 years has been at the same dive resort in Roatan.  However, there is tremendous variety there which does help.  I've got over 170 dives in there, which is probably a small fraction of what you have as a dive instructor.

First, let me say that time in the water trumps all.   The more time you spend there (basically, the more you work at it), the more stuff you see.  At this point I would say that you should a) try to photograph interesting behavior, or b) only photograph something you have not photographed before.   Both of these ideas will greatly limit the number of shots available, but in doing so will make it more interesting as you won't be trying to do the same thing over and over.   Also, wide angle stills are pretty difficult to do well, as you need the right subject, surroundings, ambient lighting, and distancing for it all to work well together.    

Something I recently found when I started shooting video with some seriousness for the first time was that my lens seemed much different than shooting stills.  (D850, 16-35vr, 230mm dome port).   I started shooting mostly macro, then did stills about 1/3rd of the time.  This since 2015 when I got my first full-frame housing for a D810.   When I shot wide, I often zoomed into 35mm in an attempt to isolate my subject, but it's just too wide to do that with smaller subjects.   But when I shot video, I was zoomed out to 16mm most of the time and wanting to go even wider. 

So - try shooting video if you have not before, try shooting different types of subjects (behaviors, not just identification shots), perhaps different lighting (strobes, and time of day), and pursue the really rare shots.

After all, it's not about showing up with the right camera gear, it's being underwater enough to have a chance to see something that most people never will, simply due to rarity.   For instance, in Roatan in 2014 I saw a Gaudy Clown Crab.  Took me over 100 dives to find a second one, and I was looking (along with the divemaster) for several years.   I've also seen exactly one Havana Mantis Shrimp and one Leopard Mantis Shrimp there.  I've got exactly one shot of a Horseshoe Worm pulling itself back into it's hole mid-process.

If you've never shot macro before, you'll be busy for a year finding new stuff you've been overlooking.   And you don't have to stop at small. You can go to tiny, ultrasmall and beyond.  Some of those shrimp are ridiculously tiny.