skeleton shrimp

Hi All,

Attached is an image that I would like your comments and suggestions on improvement.

Details:

Camera: D2X

Lens: 70-180mm Zoom at 210mm@(35mm) with MacroMate

Focus: Manual

Strobe: Housed SB800

Aperture: F29

Shutter: 1/125

ISO: 100

Adjustments done:

Crop: No

WB: set to 5000K

Sharpening: Medium using PK Sharpening Plugin for PS

Questions:

Background, should I darken or blur?

Composition: your suggestions?

Thanks

ron

Hey Ron...thats a tough one.

Very difficult subject, not a lot of contrast going on there. And the fstop and size of subject gives a pretty small DOF....hmmm

Background already blurred so wouldn't really do anything there. Perhaps play with shadows in RAW a little to bring a touch more contrast?

In my honest opinion, its a nice id shot but not really a great shot for a print or entering a contest. I think you would have a very hard time to create something artsy with such a mono colour subject.

What exactly is your goal for this shot?

M

Hi Ron

The first thing that struck me was the lack of contrast. The picture could have been better if the background and the subject were more different, in contrast or in colour. Also, regarding composition, perhaps a head on angle of the shrimp might have been more effective.

Try this.

Use unsharpen mask. Set amount at 20 and radius at 50, threshold at 0. See what that looks like. If it's too much, back off a little. This is a little trick taught on Luminus Landscape. Supposedly does it without giving you the grain and over acheived look that too much contrast adjustment will get you.

Joe

I went ahead and did it for you.

Your original is on the left. My adjusted version is on the right. There isn't a lot of contrast in this pic...browns and off-whites are hard to make pop. The difference is subtle but effective.

Joe

Thanks for all your comments.

My goal was to get the "eye" my previous image lacked this however the background was far better.

Just need some luck to combine the two.

ron

Hi Ron,

Not really a commentary on this specific photo, but in the future, aim your strobes so that they shine in from the sides and don't illuminate the background.

That way you can get better isolation of the subject. I had a lot of trouble with this in Bali because I was shooting macro with wideangle strobes. When I switched to narrower beamed strobes my shots improved dramatically.

Cheers

James