Cropping an angry gourami

[elTwitcho]

Hey all,

I wanted to share them here and never got around to it for some strange reason.

http://www.pbase.com/eltwitcho/image/39368973.jpg

This guy is my all time favorite subject, I'd love to own a giant gourami someday

1/125 sec, F2.5 at 50 mm, ISO400

Some of them are a little bit noisey, but there really isn't anything you can do at a zoo where you have no control over light.

[benny]

Hi Richard,

From what I can see of this picture, there seems to be a lot of aggression. I was thinking that a tighter presentation will really bring out the anger.

The point here will no longer be seeing the entire fish, but to feel the agression.

http://img221.exs.cx/img221/8003/picture140a17ik.jpg

Basically, the picture was color corrected and exposure was compensated before I did the crop. I also applied the unsharp mask function in Photoshop. Nothing else.

It's a good thing that the picture was slightly under exposed. Otherwise, there will be hotspots where you really need to do some serious photoshop editing. The details in the skin were also preserved as a result of the under exposure. You can see that in the lower lips and on the fore head (veins under the skin).

I hope you find this useful. Personally, I think this picture has competition potential.

Cheers,

[benny]

An alternative presentation...

http://img214.exs.cx/img214/966/picture140a24mv.jpg

Cheers,

[paradise]

I hope you find this useful. Personally, I think this picture has competition potential.


LOL, I know one site where it's a guaranteed Subscription to TFH (if you know what I mean) :-)

[benny]

Perhaps Richard can put it through the acid test!

Cheers,

[elTwitcho]

LOL, I know one site where it's a guaranteed Subscription to TFH (if you know what I mean) :-)

I get the feeling I should probably know the answer to this question, but which site?



Benny, I am amazed and I have to hand it to you, your eye for composition is incredible. I hadn't really even envisioned doing something like that with the picture and it's really opened my eyes to different ways of presenting the same subject. The second crop just changes the emphasis so much, I'm almost shocked that could be brought out of the same picture I had. I'm a speechless.

It never ceases to amaze me how helpful you guys and this website are.

[paradise]

Richard, I will PM you :-) And, thanks for the kind words, we aim to please !

[elTwitcho]

Thanks again for the input guys, I tried to submit Benny's crop over an old crop that I had previously submitted and was told "we don't allow edited pictures"... I'm starting to understand why so many people who take photography seriously don't bother with the contests at most websites.

Benny, I tried best as I could to match the colorbalancing that you did, but I can't quite get it spot on. What tools did you use for bringing up the exposure and then correcting the color balance? Better yet, what have I done wrong with mine if you can tell from my picture

http://www.pbase.com/eltwitcho/image/39418183.jpg

[paradise]

WHAT??? how would they know that it was edited? and who does not edit pictures after shooting them. That is retarded. Maybe it was the sig on it that he was against. Just submit the same pic w/out the copyright. See what he says. if not, submit the big camera file, and tell him "well this is unedited". :-)

[Gordeez]

If not, submit the big camera file, and tell him "well this is unedited". :-)
Hahahahaha
That would be great and Hilarious,
A Huge 3 MB image being sent to the poor guy with his 56 kbs modem connection.

[benny]

Thanks again for the input guys, I tried to submit Benny's crop over an old crop that I had previously submitted and was told "we don't allow edited pictures"... I'm starting to understand why so many people who take photography seriously don't bother with the contests at most websites.

Join the gang man!. Most contest are just fish parades and the rare/colorful fishes (especially when feeding) gets the popular votes. It's actually not a photography contest at all. I know it's sad, but that's the way it is. In other cases, judges themselves can't tell sharp from not and don't even understand composition.

And there are sites where once you submit your pictures, they basically can use it for WHATEVER they like till the cows come home. It's in the small print during the contest announcement/submission.

Benny, I tried best as I could to match the colorbalancing that you did, but I can't quite get it spot on. What tools did you use for bringing up the exposure and then correcting the color balance? Better yet, what have I done wrong with mine if you can tell from my picture


hmm.....what did I do.....

Basically, your fish should be pinkish with a slight orange tint and red patches where the veins shows. I used that as a guide. So looking at your picture, it's bias towards cyan and blue. So I added red and yellow with a dash of magenta.

After I did that, I used the curve function to increase the exposure slightly and further increase the portion on the lower lips slightly.

Thereafter, I applied the unsharp masked before I started cropping.

Your effort seem slightly lacking in the yellow department. Also, you have not applied the sharpening. Lastly, the lower lips could be lightened further. If you are not familiar with the magic wand function, then just use the dorge/burn function.

Hope that helps. This critique seems to be turning into a photoshop lession! (Hint: Article)

Cheers,

[elTwitcho]

That does help a little bit Benny, truth be told those are exactly the same things I did, you just have a bit more ability with the ole photoshop than I appear to ;) The only thing I don't use much is the wand or dodge/burn, generally I do my changes to the whole picture because I'm just not so great with selections. The unsharp mask I'm familiar with, I just get nervous about pushing it too far so that the shot looks unnatural.

Thanks for everything, it's been extremely useful to me.