Critique would be appreciated

[elTwitcho]

I like this new format for just one picture for critique, neat improvement.

My rhombeus

http://www.pbase.com/eltwitcho/image/38990906.jpg

It's an improved version of a picture I'd already taken where the caudal fin was cut off, so I just basically reshot the same thing I was going for in the other picture. Areas that could be improved?

[CDM]

This is a pretty good profile shot. Few personal preference: 1) the contrast could be tuned up a bit to bring out the fish more; 2) the background seem to be not really "clean" in the grey area; 3) the plants on the background is a bit complicate. Anyway, this one could possibly win POTM on some fishy forums. Think you have no prob on fish profile shot. You might start trying some different shots. Just my 2 cents.

[alanhill]

This is a good strong shot, but it has a few minor weaknesses.
One or two parts of the background could be cleaned up with Photoshop (or equivalent) eg the line under the caudal (a reflection?) and the spot above the gill cover.
I think the main weakness is the lower jaw to pectoral fin area - which doesn't look quite sharp and has rather low contrast. It might be a problem with the front glass.

Alan

[elTwitcho]

THanks guys, not only do your comments kind of get me on the right track, but I get in the right mindset to better critique my shots as well. Stuff I had overlooked suddenly strikes me and I'm realizing a few other things that could have been improved.

CDM - I'm actually thinking the background wasn't a good choice at all. This shot is taken from the side of the tank, so that background is glass, hence the gray. The background I have on the tank is black and it accentuates the subject well, but it's not in the shot because of the side it was taken from. I think it's something I'll definately correct in future shots by either putting a background on that side, or not shooting from this side. For contrast I generally use a curve tool that lets me manipulate the color curves in the r/g/b spectrum respectively, since the fish color is so similar to the background color I wasn't able to really bring it out much. Any pointers on a better tool for this task?

The plants I wanted in to give a bit of context to the shot rather than just floating in space, but I could see how they could also be confusing. Maybe an angle that still had plants in it but not so many in so many locations would work better?

Alan - Agreed on the background and the reflection. Should definately work on that. As for the contrast, could it be because of the angle the shot was taken at. The fish is actually slightly above eye level in this shot, which I did to bring out the reflectiveness of the scales better, could this have caused the lower contrast/sharpness on the underside of the fish do you think?


Thanks alot for your pointers guys, they're greatly appreciated

[benny]

Good picture, especially if it's for a profile study. Slight aberration, which could be due to the fact that it was at a slight angle from the relatively thick front glass?

If you want to give a hint of plants in the background, shooting further away with a larger aperture will blur the background even more. But you must have enough light.

Cheers,