Ok...first post here. Shark

Lyanna · Jul 14, 2004

Now, Yamant got me all enthusiastic to do some aquarium photography. Tis a LOT harder than you think...and then some.
Now, there is one pic out of the whole batch I particularly like, but there are some flaws to it.

I know that the shark's head is too blownout (you can see it even better at the full version, which can be found at http://olli.xs4all.nl/lyanna/gallery/albums/oceanography/shark.jpg, and overall, I think the pic is too grainy. I shot this without flash, obviously at 400 ISO, shutterspeed 1/50 aperture F2.0
Whitebalance was on Tungsten. What could I have done better? Do you guys even like the pic?

Sharkbait · Jul 14, 2004

Overall, I think this is a really good shot. You've got the main subject smack in the center of the frame, but the fish below and reef wall on the left balance it out pretty well nonetheless. You caught the shark in a very shark-like hunting pose, which is good. Yeah, there's a tiny blown out area, but I can live with it. I might try dropping down the blues just a bit--the dorsal surface of the shark should be greyish-blue, and the ventral surface should be grey to the point of almost white. You can use those surfaces to set your levels points. And yes, you've got a bit of grain, but that's almost unavoidable shooting underwater photos like this. Remember light falloff is HUGE underwater--at only 3ft of depth you lose about half of the light intensity. I'm guessing you were shooting this at ISO 800 or 1600, right? Also, that blue color gradient of the water is a pain in the arse to get smooth.

But for one of your first tries at aquarium photography, :thumbsup: !!!

Lyanna · Jul 14, 2004

Ahhh...good points! I had cropped the fish in the bottom off first, but that indeed didn't do much good to the composition, hence I left them in. Will try on the colors though

thanks for the compliment. I got really excited about this...I might have found my subject/specialisation cause I really really enjoyed this