Sunbursts continued...

I've been wanting to shoot sunbursts with my D2x but haven't found anything close to the right subjects to place within the frame with the sun. I thought, what's the point. Well as I found out, the point is, it's a little different shooting with this camera than the D70 with it's higher flash sync speed. And in general, the few shots I've taken "on the wing" have been pretty ugly. In fact, I was beginning to wonder if the D2x couldn't handle the sun as well or maybe, and more likely, I'd lost my touch.

So, I decided to go ahead and shoot sunballs in Hawaii, with or without a foreground subject and get some idea if it was me or the camera. My first dive, there were some turtles but the shots came out horrible. I mean BAD!. After reviewing them, it seemed my shutter speed when exposing for ambient light, was very low. 1/80 which in the past has not been very productive, but I was trying f22 to tone down the sun. So, later in the week, I gave it one more try. Ignoring the little meter, I started at 1/250, max shutter speed for syncing with the strobe, and worked with aperture only.

Spent the dive shooting W/A but again, nothing seemed to work with either C/F W/A or a critter swimming high and tight. With a few moments to burn before my SS, I shot directly into the sun. Nothing to obscure, just me against 'Ol Sol:

f10 @ 1/250 Sigma 15mm FE

Note: After seeing this posted, there seems to be a little pink in the sun ball that's not in my original or if it is, not as pronounced. My post processing skills suck so it probably can be remove or toned down further by someone that knows what they're doing.

It's the overall result that I'm trying to show in any case.

Rand

As clear as that water is, I doubt film could do much better.....what do you think?

Karl

Looks good! From the bubbles it looks like the sun is almost directly over head which is the toughest time to shoot. How deep were you?

I don't bother to meter when I do a sunbusrt shot. Just crank the shutter speed all the way up and the aperture down until I'm at the limit of getting a reasonable strobe exposure. Here's where I really wish the z220's are brighter.

Karl, this was shot out at Niihau where the vis was un-real. So far I couldn't even put a number on it. Looking down from the boat, it was by far the bluest water I'd ever seen. I mean blue.

If only a whale was swimming by

Herb, yes, it was near mid day on that dive and it was blazing. 60'. +or-.

I'm really looking forward to getting to the Sea of Cortez as the Sealions there make perfect subjects for this type of shot.

And you're right, don't know why I thought that a different approach was necessary just because it was a new camera.

Ryan is bringing some Subtronics to T&C for me to try. I've had a bit of trouble lighting my macro shots with the TC and 105mm as well.

Rand

Hey Rand, do you mean the iTTL subtronics? Are they available yet? Not that I am interested, but I haven't heard anything about them yet.

Luiz

Looks pretty good to me Rand, really gives a nice burst pattern and frozen rays which has been so hard to come by with the D70 when shooting directly at it like you have done there.

Looks like it would do real well on a CFWA where you can get the fstops even higher and not worry about light fall off at the bottom.

Trying out the Subtroncis eh? Smart move....loads of the Europeans we get through here use them, they are really big compared to the Ike's or S&S so they are not for everyone but supposedly the biggest bang of any strobe.

Definitely let us know how you like em

M

I did a little experiment with sunball and D2X as well last week while diving Bunaken. Viz was incredible and it must have the bluest water in SE Asia that I ever saw.

Unfortunately the drift dive was a bit brisk and other divers just did not know where to be, relatively to the sunball and seafan, etc. Anyhow, I got some ok sunball pictures with not much else in the picture. This was shot at F16, 1/250s, 12-24mm lens at 12mm.

With Ikelite strobes, I can go up to 1/320s, occasionally 1/400s with none of those black bar thingy.

12-24mm at 12mm, F22, 1/80s

Only if a pod of dolphins that I saw would cooperate a bit more

Boi

These images are very encouraging. I think that both make the point that you need very calm surface conditions for good sunbursts. My problem is that mt two main dive locations, Cayman and Egypt are always windy!

Looking forward to diving in the equatorial doldrums soon!

Alex

Looks good here. I don't see the pink. I think Herb's shots with the Rebel were in that range too if memory serves correct. I have not got through my shark stuff yet but maybe I have an example there. Or maybe just a bunch of crap. I know I reviewed some and they have the halo so, no good.

I will be interested to hear your thoughts on the Subtronics. Tell Ryan to bring them to BC too. Maybe we can light up Browning way from top to bottom.

Tweeking in the raw converter can make a big difference on these shots. The firist one is done on Canon's Digital Photo Professional:

This one is done on C1 Rebel

Herb,

Wow, big difference. Which of those two do you prefer? When you say C1 Rebel, do you mean Capture 1?

Cheers

James

Herb,

 

Wow, big difference.  Which of those two do you prefer? When you say C1 Rebel, do you mean Capture 1?

 

Cheers

James

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Depends somewhat on the monitor I'm using. Overall I like the top one better.

Yes. Capture 1.

I think you can get a similar effect dialing back the Highlights with Photoshops Shadow/Highlight tool.

Ok, I will post mine too. This was my first attempt with the D2x. I used Nikon's 16mm fisheye lens. Here is the JPG from the camera after a little curves adjustments in photoshop:

And here is what I got after converting the NEF and playing a bit with it in Nikon Capture:

Oh, forgot to say, sea conditions were bad, visibility was 20-30ft. The shot was at 20ft deep, and it was windy, so there were some waves on the surface but it wasn't too bad. Far from a perfect day anyways.

Depends somewhat on the monitor I'm using. Overall I like the top one better.

 

Yes. Capture 1.

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So you are using that first. Interesting. I have only used CS but know that we were shooting same and similiar settings so maybe I need to look at that. Got any tips in how once into the program...email me if Topsecret. <_<

Hi Todd,

I too use C1 w/ my Canon and love it. It's got the fastest workflow of any RAW converter, IMO.

White balance first, by clicking on something white. Tweak afterward using the "meatball" if necessary.

Adjust exposure if necessary. Tweak the curve down on the right if the sunball needs it.

Add to queue for batch processing.

I do a sharpen and resize action in Photoshop on all of my "develops" later.

Cheers

James

Hi Todd,

 

I too use C1 w/ my Canon and love it.  It's got the fastest workflow of any RAW converter, IMO. 

 

White balance first, by clicking on something white.  Tweak afterward using the "meatball" if necessary.

 

Adjust exposure if necessary.  Tweak the curve down on the right if the sunball needs it.

 

Add to queue for batch processing.

 

I do a sharpen and resize action in Photoshop on all of my "develops" later.

 

Cheers

James

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Thanks James that makes sense. I now have to see if I have Capture 1. Can't remember what came with the camera but I did not load any of it.

It probably didn't come with the camera Todd - it's $$$

But they have a deal where you can buy it bundled with iview media pro for a pretty good price. IMO C1 is worth the money for the time it saves.

This does remind me of the review that Eric did after our Fiji trip - concerning RAW converters. If I recall, he thought that the Canon Pro software did the best job w/ sunbursts and beat C1.

Cheers

James

Here's the link:

http://wetpixel.com/i.php/full/the-mystery...raw-converters/

Alex