Egyptian Experiments

Alex, you are posting in the wrong sub-forum, it's should be in the DSLR or 'Techniques and Tips' forums.

thus threads of you are full of great information (and some great shots also )

Can I pre-order the magic filter?

Hi Alex-

The Giannis D. has always been one of my favs. but usually seen in B/W. The color photo with filter is really amazing.

So, we are you gonna publish this technique in UwP? Come on...share the wealth!!! Or sell it...either works for me...

M.

Can I pre-order the magic filter?

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If people are interested in getting/finding out more about the Magic Filter please email me. My email address is alex(AT)amustard.com

If there is enough interest we will get enough made up to sell on. It won't be expensive.

Here are some more tests of the filter.

Alex

Right, here are some test shots from the Magic filter. Because they are test shots I know exactly what depth they are. I've not done any Photoshop manipulation on these images.

All available light. Either 10.5mm Fisheye or 16mm Fisheye on D2x. I custom white balanced all these shots - either off the scene or off my grey card. Both approaches work well.

Reef at 0-1 metre

Turtle at 3m

Wide reef scene at 6m

Red Soft Coral at 7m

Turtle feeding of soft corals - which are producing mucous - at 10m

Sea fan at 11m

Coral head with anthias at 12.5m

Stingray and diver at 15m

This last one is the most impressive to me. It was at 15m (at the base of the pinnacle in the previous shot). And look at the colour of the diver's BC in the background and the anthias. You see, Magic!

Alex

Alex, I wonder how much of the color comes from proper white balance vs. filters?

Karl

Alex ... is there a reason the whites look over exposed or is it just my screen .. but some (not all) look glarey ... is this you doing it or is it the filter over contrasting or as i said my screen !

sure am looking forward to the official "release" of the Magic Filter!

and once again, amazing images Alex!

Alex , congratulations!

Excellent results.

Pls. put me in the waiting list for the magic filter.

El buzo

Alex,

I just have to repeat what everyone else has said: Great results.

Now, coming into this thread a bit late and despite that being a "greenwater shooter" rather than blue, I wonder how specific this particular filter is on the colour of the background water?

I'm certainly going to test some of the B&W techniques discussed previously, the problem being that it is hard enough to see what you are doing without filters here, not to mention with a dark orange filter. What I mean is on wednesday in 20 meters of Baltic I shot ambient light wreckscapes using f2.8, 1/2sec, ISO 1600 - using film, I have to admit...

timo

No plans to make a green water filter. Filters work by subtraction of light and therefore work best in clear bright water (which tends to be blue). Green throws up a lot of problems!

For black and white, the Orange 22 is a strong filter and you will struggle to see what is going on in your frame in dark green water!

Alex

Hello Alex,

congratulations for these amazing shots. Love these blues!

I like very much shot fishes in the blue and really think

that your work is superb.

Usually I work in full manual mode (aperture, speed, strobe and

working with teleconverter, manual focus too) with my F100 (yes,

F100, Im waiting d200!) but this way is

slow working with fishes that are continuosly moving.

Do you shot on manual, aperture priority?

and strobe (manual, ttl)?

The photos with the magic filter are great too.

But again some questions:

It's not the same use a photoshop filter?

And comparing the 2 photos of giannis, the blue of the background

in film shot is perfect, the other is similar to cyan.

It's for the filter or d2x sensor?

Again,

Congratulations for you work.

Regards,

fRAS

The photos with the magic filter are great too.

But again some questions:

It's not the same use a photoshop filter?

And comparing the 2 photos of giannis, the blue of the background

in film shot is perfect, the other is similar to cyan.

It's for the filter or d2x sensor?

Again,

Congratulations for you work.

 

Regards,

fRAS

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Insightful questions about the filter, fRAS.

First it is possible to do the same in Photoshop. And even if you could get close, with endless masking and manipulation, you would introduce too much noise - and the image quality would be very poor. There is no way you could reproduce that effect in Photoshop by working on the whole image.

The cyan water in the Giannis shot is caused by a number of factors. The main one being I was a little bit deep for the filter - about 18-20m - and so the white balance has had to over compensate - and my water colour is not optimum. I could have solved this by moving higher in the water and shooting down more. Or it could be easily solved in post processing.

I didn't want to post process these images in Photoshop, because I wanted to show what the filter could do. But if you download that picture, open in in Photoshop. Go to hue saturation, open the cyan channel and move the hue to +6 you will see you will get a nice blue (without masking the wreck)!

Alex

I like very much shot fishes in the blue

Usually I work in full manual mode (aperture, speed, strobe and working with teleconverter, manual focus too) with my F100 (yes, F100, Im waiting d200!) but this way is slow working with fishes that are continuosly moving.

Do you shot on manual, aperture priority? and strobe (manual, ttl)?

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I still have an F100!

I shoot these fish pictures in Manual metering and strobe, but with Autofocus.

Most of these shots I set up for the blue exposure first and try and keep the camera at the same angle to keep the exposure the same. Then adjust flash power to get correct exposure. I know my flashguns very well - so actually I just do this off the aperture at stage 1.

My D2x has grouped multi-sensor AF - which I set to closest subject priority for these sorts of shots. On Continuous servo. And then just concentrate on framing. O, and shoot a lot of images!

I think my favourite shot with this technique is this goatfish, from Cayman. This image has not been cropped. But I probably took more than 50 shots to get one framed so perfectly.

Alex

The magic filter has also claimed its first cover, on the latest issue of UWP Magazine.

http://www.uwpmag.com/

I want to have... When can I buy one???

The magic filter has also claimed its first cover, on the latest issue of UWP Magazine.

 

http://www.uwpmag.com/

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Great shot, deserve first cover although as an engineer its hard to accept that the circle is not divided on the diameter

btw: did you got my email regarding the filter ?

Hi Arnon,

Yes, got your email about the filter. They are all filed away - once we make a decision on the filter then I will reply to you.

Alex

Alex dont forget me :-)

Will your magic filter be a Gel version or a thread version.

P.S. Do you have online the freediving photos from Cayman with some credits like lenses that you have used?

Great pics Alex! Blues are perfect, I enjoied wreck pics and B&W; mcourting_angels.jpg is beautiful, and I liked specially: blurred_sohal.jpg, red_anemone.jpg, and snapper tele.

Congratulations!