Aquatic POTM November Discussion Thread

[paradise]

Congratulations to MrTree (Zhou Hang) for winning with the AMAZING photo of the rainbows dancing, the November POTM. WOW, nobody was surprised , I think. Plain Awesome.

Now it is time for your DECEMBER submissions. We need your Real name, User name, Title, and photo (640 max on both sides) emailed to admin@aquatic-photography.com. Remember it's your last chance to get an entry into POTY Contest.

http://aquatic-photography.com/forum/contests/1105a/03.jpg

[hir0]

congrats MrTree, a magnificent image. well deserved.

[alanhill]

Well done, a spectacular image!
Also congratulations to CDM, who was unlucky: those zebra danios would have won in most months.

Alan

[benny]

What can I say.........

This almost left me speechless!

Cheers,

[phishphorphun]

Maybe one of the best photo contest entry's of the year. Very, very nice capture.

[MrTree]

Thanks, it was indeed a lucky shot. I was working on Pseudomugil gertrudae for a couple months, but without success. Then happen to obtain 3 nice males from the breeding stock, and very quicky got this shot.

The background isn't clean when I submited this picture.....a sponge filter behind..sighhh

[CDM]

I knew it when this POTM first started. Congrats MrTree. I bow to your great photo (not to mention the fish can really show off themselves).

[Ibn]

Excellent shot. Very well deserved.

[Obliviou$]

Well deserved indeed!
Great shot:)

[squidfish]

Excellent shot MrTree that really stood out for me. Well done!!!!


Cheers

Rich

[Andreas Werth]

Well deserved!
Great moment and shot (pose, sharpness). You managed to obtain the blue of their eyes as well (with frontal flash most of the time the blue is off)

8/10
(two points away from 10, because of the black background and a little to less dof (tail) -> only my very personal point of view)

[JerseyJay]

(two points away from 10, because of the black background and a little to less dof (tail) -> only my very personal point of view)
Can you please elaborate ?

Why take 1 full point off for black background ???

[JerseyJay]

MrTree,

Magnificent picture !

[Andreas Werth]

Can you please elaborate ?
Why take 1 full point off for black background ???Of course. It is much more difficult to show nice fishes in a nice environment.
It has to do with effort and preparation. Think about the tanks of your friend, Oliver Knott.
The first step to brilliant photos is a brilliant setup. Gives you a wonderful, natural looking background and surrounding.
If i imagine these rainbows in a nice tank, the photo would be even better.

Another point: most pictures with black background have been edited. More or less.
And a photo where you don´t need to edit the background (i´m not talking about taking away some small spots) is the better one in my opinion.

I don´t give away 10 points easily, in fact i can´t remember that i did so far. Not here, not on my own site.

Nevertheless, this photo was my favourite in the contest. And 8 is a very good score.
Most of the people don´t justify their votes. I did it here.
If this doesn´t lead to constructive discussion, i won´t do it in the future.

[phishphorphun]

Andreas, great explanation. And a standard that I agree with too. I'm somewhat disappointed that a photo with a solid black background, is otherwise so well composed.

Mr. Tree's photo was the best in the bunch as far as I was concerned. Because of the sharpness, colors, exposure and pose of the subjects. But I wish it had a couple plants or rocks in the background to provide a totally natural composition. I'm not a big fan of black backgrounds for photo contests. Maybe for commercial work, like covers or posters where printed copy is dropped in.

However, the last two winners were black backgronds. Probably because they were very interesting and not ordinary captures.

Just my oppinion... and thanks for the stimulating discussion. :-D

[paradise]

Andreas, you are always welcome to say whatever you feel, dont worry. :) I agree with you to some point. I think the problem is that many of us dont have "planted" setups or photogenic tanks, some are just plain w/black backgrounds :) I lately, too, have tried to stay away from black backgrounds. They were a good shortcut for a while, but I am trying to be more creative lately.

[clippo]

superb shot of some flambouyant fish! - new system looks fine to me.

[paradise]

I have split this topic to separate the discussion of this contest, and discussion of the General Contest voting.