Manado photos Oct 2005

[staad3]

Here's the link to some of my uw photos taken last week when I went Bunaken and Lembeh. Feel free to comment. Thanks.

There's also 2 video clip on flying gurnard and clownfish just for fun too.

http://dolphymanta.multiply.com/photos

[waisj]

Originally Posted by staad3 Here's the link to some of my uw photos taken last week when I went Bunaken and Lembeh. Feel free to comment. Thanks. There's also 2 video clip on flying gurnard and clownfish just for fun too. http://dolphymanta.multiply.com/photos

Hi staad3,

care to share your setup? the lightting seems a little inconsistant...
However magnification seems pretty impressive....

[staad3]

Sure, i used c5050 with seewhy's epoque strobe.

Well, it's my first time using strobe, so i dont really know where and how to place the strobe....hehe....so that's why inconsistent.

[waisj]

Beivied should be a master at atrobe placement now.. ask her.. I believe she should be able to share some tips with you!!!

[kthan]

hi staad3

I find most pics overexposed. generally underexposure gives u some leeway in correction by not overexposure.

secondly, get closer to minimise backscatter. many times, there is no need to frame the whole "creature". Pick your point of interest and focus on it. example, magnify one flam cuttlefish egg is better than a string of them from faraway. try cropping. at 600X400 @ 72 dpi, people can't tell but it will up the wow factor.

as for new strobe, try a film technique called bracketing. shoot a few with different strobepower settings. you will find more keepers.

waisj, wanna go Lembeh for a short one after your trip when u transit singapore?

Eric

[staad3]

Ya, you are right man. There are quite a few overexposed. Did play a bit on the power settings as mentioned, but guess not good enough.

2nd point noted.

I too stayed at SDQ leh....they mention your big name, kthan.

[beivied]

Originally Posted by waisj Beivied should be a master at atrobe placement now.. ask her.. I believe she should be able to share some tips with you!!!

no i am not everything only 1/4 bucket water only ....

just to add, staad was not using any macro lens on the trip, so i think just by using macro mode, her subject magnification is already not the bad wor.. and probably her third time diving with the c5050?

[kthan]

Originally Posted by staad3 Ya, you are right man. There are quite a few overexposed. Did play a bit on the power settings as mentioned, but guess not good enough. 2nd point noted. I too stayed at SDQ leh....they mention your big name, kthan.

so u wanna go again? Dec?

[seewhy]

Nice photos, staad3. Must learn from the seasoned photographers here. I have also picked up quite a few pointers although photos still poor lah.

I find that the epoque strobe is a bit difficult to control the strength of the strobe. Maybe due to the analog nature of the power control knob. But I find that this strobe also do not give linear power adjustment. Meaning, GN6 is not 2x of GN3, is there a problem with my strobe? Any other users with experience?

Another way to bracket, is to adjust aperture but this will affect the depth of field of the photo. Changing shutter speed have little effect in this case because strobe usually fires the whole load of light in less than 1ms (1/1000 sec). So changing the shutter speed have little effect on the brightness of the strobe unless you set faster than 1/1000.

[staad3]

Originally Posted by kthan so u wanna go again? Dec?

Cannot leh, just spent quite a bit on this trip liao. I went 8d/7n for this trip. If no money or leave constraints however, would love to go back, still havent see all the things yet.

[staad3]

Originally Posted by seewhy Nice photos, staad3. Must learn from the seasoned photographers here. I have also picked up quite a few pointers although photos still poor lah. I find that the epoque strobe is a bit difficult to control the strength of the strobe. Maybe due to the analog nature of the power control knob. But I find that this strobe also do not give linear power adjustment. Meaning, GN6 is not 2x of GN3, is there a problem with my strobe? Any other users with experience? Another way to bracket, is to adjust aperture but this will affect the depth of field of the photo. Changing shutter speed have little effect in this case because strobe usually fires the whole load of light in less than 1ms (1/1000 sec). So changing the shutter speed have little effect on the brightness of the strobe unless you set faster than 1/1000.

Thanks for your comments. Improvement must credit to beivied and seewhy esp that help me a lot.

Oh you mean GN6 is not 2x GN3? I thought it is, no wonder i got so many overexposed shots. haha.... anyway, i did try different power and difft position of strobe while using your strobe, but not with aperture and shutter speed, cos some objects very small, i cant really see if i had the focus till i zoom in for preview.

[staad3]

Originally Posted by beivied no i am not everything only 1/4 bucket water only .... just to add, staad was not using any macro lens on the trip, so i think just by using macro mode, her subject magnification is already not the bad wor.. and probably her third time diving with the c5050?

You very good liao leh, no need so qian xu.

Yup, abt 3rd trip i used with this camera. the first in salu, shack photos(all blacks), 2nd one in hantu, did not take any photos due very poor vis and 3rd, is this.

[kthan]

Originally Posted by seewhy Another way to bracket, is to adjust aperture but this will affect the depth of field of the photo. Changing shutter speed have little effect in this case because strobe usually fires the whole load of light in less than 1ms (1/1000 sec). So changing the shutter speed have little effect on the brightness of the strobe unless you set faster than 1/1000.

shutter speed + aperture = background (over picture)
aperture = depth of field
strobe = subject illumination....

so
1. select aperture for depth of field
2. set shutter speed for overall exposure (usually the background, ie the blue/black)
3. strobe power to illuminate subject

Eric

[WhyZzzzzz]

Originally Posted by seewhy Nice photos, staad3. Must learn from the seasoned photographers here. I have also picked up quite a few pointers although photos still poor lah. I find that the epoque strobe is a bit difficult to control the strength of the strobe. Maybe due to the analog nature of the power control knob. But I find that this strobe also do not give linear power adjustment. Meaning, GN6 is not 2x of GN3, is there a problem with my strobe? Any other users with experience? Another way to bracket, is to adjust aperture but this will affect the depth of field of the photo. Changing shutter speed have little effect in this case because strobe usually fires the whole load of light in less than 1ms (1/1000 sec). So changing the shutter speed have little effect on the brightness of the strobe unless you set faster than 1/1000.

used epoque strobe quite a bit, it's a good strobe actually, abit like a lomo, you never really know what you're gonna get. so usually i'll set to 6 and then play around with strobe distance to subject.

[staad3]

Thks for all the advice...can see some light at the end of tunnel.......
Yup, the strobe is quite good for macro stuff as long as you know how to use correctly. Now got to buy strobe liao...

[staad3]

Btw, anyone knows which shop is good for developing uw photos? I maybe wrong, but sometimes the shop will do their own color correction before developing and may not be what i want.

[waisj]

I used to go to KT,
I also colour corrected my monitor and stuff to match their colours.

and tell them no colour correction.. They normally won't know what a underwater photo would look like.