After rather a lot of zapping about the place recently it is really good to be back in England. I really want to share my pictures from the Maldives with my friends here at Wetpixel - but I am not allowed to at the moment (because they are destined for a specific project).
So as a substitute here are some pix I took this afternoon here in Hampshire! I was amazed to discover that the D2X works above the water too!
Curiously I discovered a school of paddletail snappers while at the cricket ground just a few mins from my flat. This group had formed a school in the shape of France. There were lots of them in the maldives too (actually it is a reject shot from the Maldives shoot, so I can show it - as if you were fooled)!
Alex
Underwater shot - Nikon D2X + 17-35mm @ 17mm. 1/60th @ F6.3. ISO 100. 2 x Subtronic Alphas on 1/4 power.
It's good to have you back Alex. We were worried you'd grown gills and were never going to surface again. :-)
Cheers
James
That was a reject!!!
Great to have you back Alex - look forward to more of your presence on WP.
May I one day be able to take photos so good that they could pass as a Mustard reject.....
I still like the shot. But the right had side of the school has not got enough strobe on it. Because it is further away (inverse square law and all that!).
When shooting complete fish schools in entirety the interest in the shot is that the fish have formed a perfect and complete shape. And as I have failed to light them perfectly it detracts from that message - and for me makes this shot a reject. But as I said I still like it. It is just that I have a good number that I think work better.
Alex
Good to see you're back in WP Alex!! I wish my rejects would look like that. In any case, keep posting those rejects, so that we can get an idea of what you saw on the Maldives.
David.
I have to agree... what an amazing reject!!
Alex, you need a few pointers on technique:
Left foot should be pointing more straight; backlift too open, should have left elbow pointing more upwards - you are about to play a terrible skyer and loose your wicket!!
Welcome back, Alex! That reject looks great, in spite of the probem you say (not enough light at the right zone of the school) I wish I'd be able to take pics like that one!
Regards
Alex, if u didn't mention and post the shot in the Critique thread, I bet many would say the lighting was deliberate and simply fabulous. Helped bring out the vividness of the school of snappers.
seems like I am behind in sports photography too!
I was wondering where you were. I will be curious to hear how the Maldives were after the Tsunami.
Funny the Queen was here in the city last week and said Canada felt like home.
Maldives were fine after Tsunami, Todd.
Very little effect on reefs.
Some effect on land and obviously a big human tradegy. But you have to be shown the physical damage to islands to notice it. Recovery pretty much complete. Maldives were much farther from the epicentre than Sumatra, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
Alex
This one is not a reject - although it may not make the project because I only need one image on this theme and I have another very different shot that is slightly ahead. So I reckon I can get away with showing it because it is not part of the set of main diving images!
D2X + 10.5mm. Available light. Its an underwater picture - although most of the subject matter is above the water!
Alex
Now THAT is a sunball!!!
Way cool, especially that you have managed to hold detail in the diver and sky without the sunball flaring.
Since you posted it in the showcase forum I feel compelled...One thing I might have preferred is either slightly more angle (ie., rotated slightly more to the right) - or perhaps a perfectly straight-on image (ie., diver running perfectly vertical). There is absolutely nothing wrong with the shot as it is, but this would put it in the extraordinary category for me.
Either way, I'd be completely stoaked to call this shot my own. Damned those are some nice pixels!!
I shot it more symmetrical with the sunball behind the diver too - but there was too much interference between the sunball and the diver. This slightly off centre one looks best - but it is definitely a type of image I plan to reshoot on several occasions - I want to redo it with a diver giant striding. I have also actually just processed the RAW version of this image and it is much less contrasty and looks much nicer.
It was an educational shoot in other ways too. I learned that bikinis are very prone to slippage(!) and models get very self conscious of such things when you are zapping at 5 frames sec-1 (hence the swimsuit in this shot)!!
Alex
Speaking of education, am thinking we would all like to learn a little more about said model....
I like the shot, nice idea, shot on scuba or snorkel? Very impressed that you managed not to get any bubbles in the shot.
Mike
I shot it more symmetrical with the sunball behind the diver too - but there was too much interference between the sunball and the diver. This slightly off centre one looks best - but it is definitely a type of image I plan to reshoot on several occasions - I want to redo it with a diver giant striding. I have also actually just processed the RAW version of this image and it is much less contrasty and looks much nicer.
Sounds like you tried a number of combinations. I look forward to seeing some of your future efforts and perhaps even a RAW derived JPEG?
It was an educational shoot in other ways too. I learned that bikinis are very prone to slippage(!) and models get very self conscious of such things when you are zapping at 5 frames sec-1 (hence the swimsuit in this shot)!!
Oh diddums. Sounds like a terrible shoot to me. :curses under breath:
My girlfriend is already suspicious of the url "wetpixel" - now she'll be even more so...
Maldives were fine after Tsunami, Todd.
Very little effect on reefs.
Some effect on land and obviously a big human tradegy. But you have to be shown the physical damage to islands to notice it. Recovery pretty much complete. Maldives were much farther from the epicentre than Sumatra, Thailand and Sri Lanka.
I was snorkeller. Direction to Anna was to watch me as I slowly floated to the surface and to dive in just before the camera broke the surface. The Viz was 'orrible. I have photochopped out a few bubbles from the surface (but there were only 2 or 3). Also I would submerge under the boat then swim out a metre or so to take the picture.
In any case, keep posting those rejects, so that we can get an idea of what you saw on the Maldives.
