Close up Polyps Photo

Photographer’s Note

What does a diving instructor do on her day off? Go diving of course!

Apart from a couple of rolls on an old film camera, this is my first real attempt at underwater photography. I have to admit that I am pretty stoked with the results, but would really appreciate any feedback.

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Critiques | Translate

mimi (2321) 2003-10-30 16:05

I really like it. The colors are great as is the framing. These are really interesting looking. I'd like to see them just a little bit sharper, though. Also the centers of a couple of them are a little overexposed. I don't know the first thing about underwater photography, so I have no idea if that can be avoided. All in all though, this is a great shot.

tworivers (573) 2003-10-30 18:30

great texture and repetitive design quality. love the colors also. imo a crop from the bottom and right could eliminate the out of focus areas and still capture the beauty of the subject. fine image an one that a viewer tends to look at for a while as it has so many interesting features. very nice image.

RobBrown (1789) 2003-10-30 22:27

This picture is very strong in form and colour , but it would seem to be a little out of focus / blurred, was the camera a fix focus type? inwhich case you may of been too close or it must be had to hold a close focus while floating in a moving medium (water) I suppose you could use some tempory wieghts to hold you down ?
It can probably helped with the use of either sharpen tool and soft edged brush or Unsharpmask which will give the appearance of being more in focus.

Luko (13902) 2003-10-31 16:39

being a keen diver myself i'll comment this one compared to other UW shots.

This is a macro shot (non diving people may not realize that these polyps are very small) at the distance you took them you couldn't have the whole completely sharp, this is not a DOF issue though you don't mention the actual aperture nor the camera you took your shot with, that's, I suspect, the best you could do.

I suspect you didn't have any external flah to take this one, or that the flash was not corretly aimed and created a hot spot on the upper right corner.

The problem here is that you don't have any real subject, such as a small goby a sea star or christmas tree worm to draw the eye.
Polyps provide good backgrounds but not veriued enough for a stand alone shot.
Anyway keep shooting, UW macro can get very rewarding sooner than you think.

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mtolloczko (201) 2003-11-03 8:14

A wonderful textural image. The polyps have attractive colours, almost akin to a lavender plant, and an attractive shape and texture. Yes, I concur with you, it is a great result. The combination and composition are excellent. There are parts of the image that are blurry but also some shapes are sharp. Although polyps are tiny (infact), it is still a depth of focus issue... I quite like your use of DOF...

mdchachi (1611) 2003-11-04 14:09

I disagree w/ Luko that the subject isn't good enough for a standalone shot. I think it's wonderfully textured and makes a great subject. I do agree that it would be better for all to be in focus (or at least have the closest polyps in focus). Also the funky colouring caused by the flash(?) is something to think about (maybe use a diffuser or separate strobe).

Goldie (0) 2004-03-06 18:52