Posted by writepic on October 14, 2009 at 10:43 AM
hi all,
here's a turtle image. our manta project was in full swing this year but frustratingly the underlying reason for us being there was to photo-ID mantas, which involves taking some terribly un-artistic shots of mantas undersides.
however, 7 weeks in the field gave me some opportunity to play around with some more interesting shots.
this green sea turtle shot had me experimenting with light, trying to get something different from the usual blue backgrounds. by angling the strobe well away from the subject and shooting as downwardly as possible, it's possible to get the BG to stay very dark, even though taken in the middle of the day. i quite like it, but does anyone else?
hope to be posting a lot more since getting back a day or two ago.
comments welcome,
mark.
Posted by Andy Shepherd on October 14, 2009 at 1:26 PM
Nice shot Mark, the BG is a lovely colour, but maybe another strobe aimed at the turtle would have helped bring out a little more detail, as the lefthand flipper is lost in the foreground.
Andy...
Posted by Craig Jones on October 14, 2009 at 1:43 PM
Beautiful image with bags of atmosphere,brillant light on the Turtle,love the BG and composition,saw one of these in the Maldives a few years ago while diving and it was a special moment as I love these creatures not as close as this!! thanks for sharing and hope you get the comments it deserves
Posted by Fran French on October 14, 2009 at 2:03 PM
A superb image Mark. As Craig says it has bags of atmosphere, and no doubt a very difiicult image to get! I know absolutely nothing about underwater photography, so I am full of praise for you and this one!!
I'm afraid it doesn't work for me. The background is too dark and gives no sense of the environment. It almost makes the turtle seem to be suspended in space rather than in water.
Robert.
Posted by eric weight on October 15, 2009 at 2:30 AM
I rather like it but I must admit that having a v dark bg make it look like the shot was taken very deep. That is just my impression because I know nothing about uw photography. Eric
Posted by Andrew Stagg on October 15, 2009 at 4:16 AM
Lovely shot Mark,
If you can just photoshop in four elephants and a discworld on top, Terry Pratchet would be proud - I say that because with the dark background the first thought that comes to mind is a giant turtle in space.
Andrew
Posted by writepic on October 15, 2009 at 11:58 AM
haha ok i will try that andrew. no really thank yo uvery much for all the comments, most appreciated.
i guess another strobe would be necessary to get the leeside of the turtle into light, but even more difficult to control it down softly. the image was actually taken only about 1 metre from the surface, but i wanted to give the impression that there are lots and lots of things about marine turtles that we know nothing about, so the gloom is more about our loack of knowledge of them. the human gloom.
Discussion
9 replieshi all,
here's a turtle image. our manta project was in full swing this year but frustratingly the underlying reason for us being there was to photo-ID mantas, which involves taking some terribly un-artistic shots of mantas undersides.
however, 7 weeks in the field gave me some opportunity to play around with some more interesting shots.
this green sea turtle shot had me experimenting with light, trying to get something different from the usual blue backgrounds. by angling the strobe well away from the subject and shooting as downwardly as possible, it's possible to get the BG to stay very dark, even though taken in the middle of the day. i quite like it, but does anyone else?
hope to be posting a lot more since getting back a day or two ago.
comments welcome,
mark.
Nice shot Mark, the BG is a lovely colour, but maybe another strobe aimed at the turtle would have helped bring out a little more detail, as the lefthand flipper is lost in the foreground.
Andy...
Fran
Robert.
If you can just photoshop in four elephants and a discworld on top, Terry Pratchet would be proud
Andrew
haha ok i will try that andrew. no really thank yo uvery much for all the comments, most appreciated.
i guess another strobe would be necessary to get the leeside of the turtle into light, but even more difficult to control it down softly. the image was actually taken only about 1 metre from the surface, but i wanted to give the impression that there are lots and lots of things about marine turtles that we know nothing about, so the gloom is more about our loack of knowledge of them. the human gloom.
post more soon,
mark.