Aquatic POTM DECEMBER Discussion Thread

[paradise]

Our official last POTM of the year has come to an end. Congratulations to Andreas for his Angel entry:

http://aquatic-photography.com/forum/contests/1205a/04.jpg

Congrats to Richard for taki 2 Second place spots this month in both general and aquatic photography contests.

Now, we have gotten away from it in the last few month, and this thread has become a pale imitation of what it was originally INTENDED to be. I feel that JUST congratulating the winner is something that happens on "fish" sites. We ARE a photography site, and I hope we can openly and honestly discuss the contest entries and what made them stand out to YOU, and what made you vote a certain way or other.

So, please take your time to elaborate more, AFTER you congratulate Andreas and the rest...

I will chime in after a couple of other posts, I dont want to do it all in this initial post.

[hir0]

congrats Andreas, and to everyone else who participated in this months POTM. this one was a tough competition for sure. Lots of high quality stuff.

[Ibn]

Congrats, Andreas. Love the colors on this beautiful queen.

Some impressive shots from the others as well, especially with the quality works of Rich, Ed, Jay, and the others. Can't wait til next year with the quality of works being shown.

[Andreas Werth]

Thank you. That was close, and in the end i was the lucky one.
I know that a difference of 0,05 points is nothing, therefore Rich is more than #2. Please take one step higher :-)
And Ed did a very good job with his ram (and he showed us even better stuff lately).
Congratulations to both of you and also to every other contestants.

and I hope we can openly and honestly discuss the contest entries and what made them stand out to YOU, and what made you vote a certain way or other.Okay Ed, lets start. Although i took part at the contest myself, i want to bring up at least two thoughts about the final scores. My very personal favourite is not in top three. I prefered that specific photo because of a well-taken opportunity and interaction between fishes, which is almost more difficult than "just" a portrait shot. Only subtraction for the colours, i think this is a problem of scanned material and used film. These are the reasons why i think that Alans photo is clearly underrated.
Another photo pleased me well, very nice motive: that was Franks cory family picture :-)

Thanks for sharing and participating!

[paradise]

OK, time for me to chime in. I think there were several ways to go for the top three. My personal favorites this month were actually Jay's Tetra and Rich's Trigger. Those two were my highest scores. I like Andres' shot quite a bit, but the other two really stood out for me as "better" dont ask why, it's not scientific scoring for me :)

I also had a couple of shots that were very indearing even if not as technically "perfect" including the Cory mom'n'cub, and Chelle's Convict photo. Alan's shot was very well done but I thought it was very dark. I totally get the amazingly tough technical difficulty of that shot, but I vote on a "general feeling", and I guess I was not "feeling it".

One thing surprized me this contest. THere were 3 VERY similar side profile SW shots this month (Andreas, Rich, and Clippo) and I thought they would hurt each other's chances, but 2 ended up on top, which surprised me. I dont think this would have happened in a system where you just pick ONE favorite image, like a poll system. They would have split the votes.

[phishphorphun]

It's hard for me to explain this without offending some of the great captures in the contest. :-|

Andreas' and the other saltwater species shots were very impressive. Although Andrea's photo was spectacular... mainly because of the subject. However, for that reason, I find that the SW subjects have such brilliant and captivating colors, they automatically attract a lot of attention.

The more quaint, usually FW subjects, seem to appeal to my interest and command more scrutiny than the SW subjects.

I think that the reason the three sw images did so well is because we have more good photographers on this forum now that share the this interest. This is not a bad thing. Just an observation on my part.

I believe I picked the top five in my own poll during this contest. Not in the same order, but what I thought would be at the top.

[squidfish]

Firstly congratulations to Andreas on a very striking shot and thanks to those who voted for my entry.

I often think on fish photo contests spectacular colour draws the voters which is why saltwater fish will often do well. My favourite shot of this months was Alans picture because it must have been a technically difficult picture to achieve, firstly to capture the fish spawning and also it is never easy to photograph fish when they are so close to the surface. I also thought John (Clippos) shot was excellent showing great exposure and detail and the fish colour complimented the background really well.

Cheers

Rich

[alanhill]

You can't argue with the votes. Andreas' shot is a perfect capture of a beautiful fish and I don't think there is any way he could have done better in the circumstances.
I actually watched Rich take his photo, so I know the same thing applies to it.
That can't be said for my shot - I had an idea, I was trying to use the bubble nest as the diffuser, so that the principal source of illumination came through the nest - an interesting idea, but not as successful as I hoped. I will have to think of a better idea next time.

Alan

[jackster]

I just want to say that I think the voting worked out with very fair results.
After posting my photos, I realized that I wasn't going to win first place but
the members here gave me votes that were at least "middle of the road"
which made me very happy. It was a tough competition and my 5 year old
son helped me with the voting. He's very smart and of coarse I made the final
decision on the votes but his input was very unbiased. My personal favorite was
the clown trigger and I belive his was the photo that actually won. My camera is
not the greatest compared to Nikon or Canon but I will keep trying and I'm saving
up for a better camera so if anyone has a used D50 or D70 at a reasonable price
just let me know.

[RazorBlade]

Congrats Andreas - you were one of my top picks. It is a beautiful capture. The dark background really 'brought out' the subject.

Richard's photo was another nice one. It was well-exposed & sharp - I guess the only "problem" with it not getting 1st place is probably the distracting background (well, I did find it distracting). The colours of the fish was just kinda ... "taken away" by the background. Nothing Richard could have done about it though.

Ed's Ram shot was my fav for the competition. But hey, not much separated the Top 3. ;)

I also liked Jay's photo, but the fish was looking away so ...

Looking forward to the Annual Contest! :)

[benny]

Wow!!! That is an outstanding photo! Congrats Andreas!

Cheers,

[JerseyJay]

Andreas .... Great picture. I think colors and shape are out of this planet.

PS. I took away a point for black background ... Just Joking :)

[Andreas Werth]

PS. I took away a point for black background ... Just Joking :)
lol :-)
Just for the record: the background is neither black nor did i major editing ;-)