manta dance

This 6 foot male manta ray forced me to use 3/4 of my roll of film on

him...see the gun in its hand? Your feedback is appreciated.

.. but 6 ft. only ? Appears to be greater

I think it is 6 meters.

 

Nice lighting, good background. Could be a littlebit more sharp around the eyes.

 

Greetings Richard

 

...Richard and Frank. Yes, this fish was only 6 feet wide - maybe smaller. We first saw it on our surface swim out where there were two of them - one right on the other's tail. This was after we ran across a spotted eagle ray on the reef flat. I usually shoot 105mm macro, but went on this dive w/35mm to shoot a turtle cleaning station, so got lucky w/the lens choice. I'm still a beginner, so I really appreciate the comments. I'm shooting Velvia 50, do you think that changing to velvia 100 might take care of the sharpness? Thanks again. Aloha ~jeff

This is the picture I prefer: light, atmosphere and attitude of the fish work well.

 

You ask if the change from Velvia 50 to 100 helps to improve sharpness. The answer seems to conflict with the characteristics of the two films, but in fact this change can help. For example:

Velvia 50 has more resolution than Velvia 100, so he has the ability to capture more details, which favors sharpness (so it is widely used in macro). However its low sensitivity required to open the diaphragm and lower the shooting speed , two factors that contribute to undermining the sharpness.

Velvia 100, despite having the largest grain, still has an excellent resolution (probably did not notice the difference in an ordinary diaporama) and can close the diaphragm 1 point, which helps us solve the problem. How? In two ways:

 

1 - Close the diaphragm (to f: 8 or f: 11) usually improves the performance of the lens.

 

2 - Close the diaphragm helps minimize the aberrations caused by the passage of light from water into the air, especially through a flat surface, and this is the main problem.

Probably you did use the 35mm lens through a flat port and the diaphragm at maximum aperture. If what I am saying is correct, the most important step to resolve the problem is to use the 35mm with a curved port (dome). Also you can use the Velva 100 which follows very well and allows close the diaphragm.

 

Hope this helps

Best regards, Carlos

 

Aloha Carlos - thanks so much for the comments. I really appreciate this very useful information and hope to apply it soon. Sorry for the delayed reply, haven't checked my old postings in quite some time.

 

cheers,

jeff

Hey Jeff

This shot is just breathtaking!  Those mantas can really get in the way sometimes.  I'm glad to see you made the most of a bad situation (insert clever, sarcastic emoticon here)

Jeff