Just to say Hello

[diver1963]

Hi,

My name is Lorraine. I don't really take a lot of photos on land.

My hobby is scuba diving. We purchased a "Sony dpc10" digital camera a few years ago. Also purchased a underwater housing for it.

Last year i didn't use the camera much, but my husband did. The photos he took were nice photos....well they have meanings to us......i wouldn't say they are as good as the ones Ive seen on this site.

What the photos lack is colour and focus.
the focus may be good but the colour rubbish. or the colour good but the focus out.

Now I was debating if i should buy a new camra....or should i take over using it under water with the advice from all of you.

Ive also just tried attaching some of the photos to show you......but with no luck........will try that later when ive looked at the site properly.

regards

Lorraine

[Photo-John]

Lorraine-
Welcome to PhotographyREVIEW.com! And Happy New Year!

Sorry to hear that you aren't happy with the photos from your Sony P10. It would help us to see some samples. You can upload the full-size images to the gallery, or you can upload smaller ones on the forum. To upload them to the forum they must be 640x640 or smaller and the files must be under 200k, if I remember correctly. It's best if you post them in the forums so we don't have to go searching for them. But use the gallery and post a link, if that's easier.

I really need to see the photos to properly evaluate any problems. But my guess is the camera isn't the problem. You likely just need to learn what it can and can't do and how to properly use it. Even though compact digital cameras are very impressive, they won't do everything and special techniques do help - especially for something technical like underwater photography.

Please post some samples so that we can take a look and try to help. I have no doubt we can give you some useful advice. And it would be fun to have some underwater photographers sharing photos with us regularly!

[diver1963]

hi,

thanks for getting back.

i have downloaded some photos in the gallery. unfortunately i don't know how to make them smaller to go directly on the forum.

regards Lorraine

[cyberlord]

Hi Lorraine, and welcome.

You will find that underwater photography is a challenge due to the lack of light. If you are going to take pictures deeper than snorkeling range you will need an off camera strobe. I'm not sure how the underwater strobes work but I assume they are the same as on land and can be triggered via the on camera flash (no cables or wires). You will want the camera to be able to fire a manual flash with no pre flashes as they will trigger the slave strobe at the wrong time and will not expose the subject when the shutter is opened. But I'm sure there are strobes that can compensate for pre flash (usually called digital slaves).

Getting an off camera strobe will do wonders for your photos that are taken any depth below the surface.

I noticed a couple of things with the examples you have shown.

Focusing area. The photo title 'lanzarotte 2006' is focused on the floor behind the seahorse and not on the seahorse itself. Just make sure your focus area is on a subject large enough for the camera to recognize, getting closer will help.

Subjects too small. Get closer to the subjects. Maybe even the onboard flash will help if the subject is within a foot or two. Also the less water (and particles) between you and the subject the less diffused the light will be and the colors will also be less muted.

Depth of field (DOF). With low light the camera has to open the aperture up to let in more light. This has the (sometimes) disadvantage of a narrow DOF (smaller area in photo that is in focus). A smaller aperture (higher number) will allow more of the photo to be in focus, but in order to use a smaller aperture you will need more light.

Camera minimum aperture at different focal lengths. You camera has a decent f/2.8 when zoomed all the way out (wide angle). When zoomed in all the way though, the aperture changes to f/5.6 which only allows 1/4 the amount of light that it does at f/2.8. That is a lot of precious light. Keep the zoom at wide angle and again, get closer to the subjects and try that on camera flash. It may do wonders at close range.

Murky colors are caused by low light and particles in the water. Human eyes compensate for the low light, lack of color, and color balance/shift (a lot of blue underwater). To compensate you will have to bring along some light to get the colors to pop more. You can do some digital post processing that will help sharpen/brighten/saturate your photos to some extent if the photo is in decent shape to start with.

As you can see in all the examples except the first two, the limiting factor boils down to light. Take photos closer to the surface with the camera zoomed out and close to your subjects as possible until you get a slave strobe. That will help a lot.

As a caveat, I have never photographed in water, so I might be missing something or misspoke on something. If I have then someone with hands on knowledge should correct me. Thanks.

I hope this helps "shed some light" on your problems. Get out and take more photos to see if any of these pointers help.

Tim

[cyberlord]

BTW, if you want we can show you how post processing can enhance these murky images to some extent. Just need your permission to edit one of your photos if you are interested.

Tim

[diver1963]

Hi Tim,

Thanks for replying............you carry on.....you have my permission.

I am off work weekend........so i am going to have a good look at this site and get the most out of it.

"Sorry about the said face....i didn't realise i had put it on "

As for getting out in the water and taking more photos........ITS TO COLD FOR ME ha-ha

As soon as i get out there i will take lots of photos and let you see them.

Thanks for you advise. know doubt i Will speak to you again.


Lorraine