This batch marks my return to strobeless shooting. And right away, over 20 usable photos instead of 8, with some help from Photoshop of course. Check ‘em out.
Archive of posts filed under the Dive Trip Photos category.
Catalina Dive Photos 11-03
I continued to use the strobe for more sessions but eventually stopped using it. Main reason is that I could get more usable shots when not using a strobe. Sounds strange, but it’s true. Before using the strobe and after giving it up, I would get 20 or more usable photos per session, as opposed to 6 or 10 usable photos when using it.
Catalina Island 9-03
…I fired off about 30 shots but only came up with about 4 usable photos. I was shooting only macro with my manual strobe loaded with my super-diffuser cap. The vis was terrible for this dive trip. We started west of Parson’s Landing then moved east to Parson’s itself and then on to two more dives at Emerald Bay…
More Manual Strobe Photos – Catalina Island 8-03
But I was really getting the hang of this manual strobe… I like the way the light was just falling off the subject and allowing lots of blue and green to show in the background. I also got a few shots of an Abalone I fed kelp to.. the way I light these shots still leaves plenty of room for my usual levels and curves adjustment layers.
Manual Strobe (me?) — Catalina 6-03
This was the second time I took out this strobe. It’s a DS50… This trip I outfitted the diffuser cap with 10 or 20 layers (I forget) of frosted mylar all stacked and trimmed and fitted inside the cap and I think it worked great,… Here I’m busy trying to come up with some working exposures and am not too concerned with composing something serious.
Sheep Crab, Bat Ray, Lobster Photos, Catalina 4-03
These sheep crab photos are particularly cool. I also really like the Bat Ray 1 photo…my notes say the vis was not great but not bad. I think the photos, once photoshopped, turned out really good, so this tells you something about how much help photoshop really is.
Mantis Shrimp Photos, Catalina Island 3-03
I’ve seen some insanely laughable things on the web by so-called photoshop authorities where they actually sharpen the edges of the subject of a photo to make it “pop.” This is so Bass Ackwards it makes me cringe. Sharpening a digital photo is already a no-no, but sharpening the edges of a subject?
Catalina Island, Church Rock 12-02
Dive trip photos improved with photoshop levels and curves. Used “cheater curves” on worst photos to see affected levels adjustments then readjust or delete cheater curve. Used second targeted levels adjustment to further improve effects of poor lighting.
Santa Cruz Island 10-02
For these first several photo galleries it seems I tried every photoshop trick in the book, faux red filters, using the eyedropper tool, multiple small moves in levels. But for all the faux red filters and things I’ve tried, and all the “Madrake-y” stuff I’ve read about, I’m convinced that nothing beats a solid knowledge and careful application of levels and curves.
to the home of my underwater scuba photo galleries. Check out my photos and movies and see how and why I use software like Photoshop, Final Cut and Aftereffects to color correct my images and video clips.
