Tulamben Gallery Up

I can't come close to James' Bali images which I see he's just posted, but I've just got my Tulamben Gallery up from my trip in April 2005. It can be found here:

Reefwreck's Underwater Gallery

All images taken with Olympus 5050, single INON Z-220 strobe, many with INON UCL-165 Macro Lens.

Here are a few samples. All constructive comments and suggestions welcome!

Hi Reefwreck,

These are decent shots. The Moray eels really stands out for me. The froggie, nudi and thorny seahorse all suffer with less that perfect eye contact with the camera.

I would also put your strobe right on top of your port for these sorts of macro shots to achieve more even lighting.

Alex

Hi Reefwreck,

 

These are decent shots. The Moray eels really stands out for me. The froggie, nudi and thorny seahorse all suffer with less that perfect eye contact with the camera.

 

I would also put your strobe right on top of your port for these sorts of macro shots to achieve more even lighting.

 

Alex

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Hello Alex,

Thanks for the constructive comments. They are truly appreciated. Next time I'll work more on strobe placement for these types of macro shots. Getting the subjects to cooperate on the eye contact may prove to be more of a challenge. Thanks again!

Cheers.

Michael.

Define perfect eye contact. Your definition is probably different than others. I think the seahorse has decent eye contact given the behavioral aspects of the animal. This is yet another reason great shots lose in competitions. Definitions of "perfect eye contaact" vary, not to say Alex's is wrong, but only to show that another pro disagrees with him.

Joe

I think that Joe makes an important point - that there is not always a correct image in a subject field like photography! You should not always do what you are told or read. It is important to take your own images and add something to a world already innundated to images. I guess what I am trying to say is that I am offering an opinion not fact!

It kinda reminds me of an old Calvin and Hobbes comic. Calvin is doing a paint by numbers picture and Hobbes ambles up and looks at what he is doing and again at the picture on the box.

"Calvin, you aren't usiing the right colours or even following the lines?"

Calvin replies:

"Well if I did that I would end up with the same picture as there is on the box..."

Alex

I find the seahorse shot stunning specifically because of the eye contact. It looks to me like the eye has rotated back so that it is staring directly at the viewer. The angle makes the shot much more interesting. The seahorse is almost flirting with the viewer. Had this shot been an evenly lit profile shot I would not have given it a second look. In addition, the eye's bright reflection draws extra attention to it.

-Brad

Thanks for the additional comments here, and to those of you who chose to reply via PM and e-mail. I'm still relatively new at this, and I value very much any constructive comments or criticism. That should only help me improve.

I'm still very much in the developmental or experimental stage, and have recently been trying to focus on lighting. I'm trying to develop a style I'm happy with which makes appealing use of light and shadows. This experimentation likely accounts for Alex's comments on my strobe positioning. Personally, I have a general preference for less than fully lit subjects, sort of like images in those old Bogart movies, which I am so fond of.

Regarding the eye contact of the seahorse, I worked with what the subject would give me. In that specific situation, the only way I would have been able to get the seahorse to face directly into the lens would have meant crossing my own personal comfort level for interacting with the subject, which I wasn't prepared to do.

Cheers.

Michael.