Haven't posted anything for a while so thought I should get back into the habit! This guy is a signal goby from the Philippines earlier this year. Their brilliant patterns are meant to mimic a crab (eyespots and claws) in order to deter predators. they are great little fish, only about 6cm long.
Slight crop, 1/160s, f3.5, flash, shadows and highlights in CS2.
nice to see more of your underwater stuff. gobies are amazing things aren't they, if they are anything like the various red sea gobies, they are extremely difficult to get close to so you've done well on this occasion.
on the negative points, i don't think the goby is in a very picturesque setting, too much coral "rubble" around, and also your flash is making an uneven mess of the lighting, too concentrated on the fore left, and therefore distracting, and an uneven blend on the subject.
you've also got a bit of a red cast to this in the fully lit part, which would suggest your white balance is a little off. closeup photography has an array of advantages undewater, but getting the lighting right is crucial.
Thanks for the comments Mark. Yes there is a lot of coral rubble in that picture - these guys did not pop up that often so I had to take what I could get of them. I agree about the flash but I cannot alter anything on the digital compact I have at present. I am saving for a housing for my SLR like you suggested! Sometimes the compact works great, other times not, it's all a bit unpredictable but generally shots taken on the seabed result in this uneveness. Bring on the dual strobes
hey matt, if you do go for two strobes, which i highly recommend, sea and sea do some ball jointed arms, which are really really good, they give you a bit more distance form the camera body and hence more lighting control than do the bendy types. they are a bit more expensive but weell worth it. they also make life a lot easier when you are handling your camera out of the water, and the strobe stays where you need it to be instead of swinging around and bashing against your ports
Discussion
7 repliesSlight crop, 1/160s, f3.5, flash, shadows and highlights in CS2.
Tim
David
hi matt,
nice to see more of your underwater stuff. gobies are amazing things aren't they, if they are anything like the various red sea gobies, they are extremely difficult to get close to so you've done well on this occasion.
on the negative points, i don't think the goby is in a very picturesque setting, too much coral "rubble" around, and also your flash is making an uneven mess of the lighting, too concentrated on the fore left, and therefore distracting, and an uneven blend on the subject.
you've also got a bit of a red cast to this in the fully lit part, which would suggest your white balance is a little off. closeup photography has an array of advantages undewater, but getting the lighting right is crucial.
hope this helps,
mark
hey matt, if you do go for two strobes, which i highly recommend, sea and sea do some ball jointed arms, which are really really good, they give you a bit more distance form the camera body and hence more lighting control than do the bendy types. they are a bit more expensive but weell worth it. they also make life a lot easier when you are handling your camera out of the water, and the strobe stays where you need it to be instead of swinging around and bashing against your ports
m