Whats wrong with this?

So I never get much of a response from family or anyone I show this photo to. I like the photo though, probably because it took me a lot of time to nail the exposure down so I could get a backdrop. But please explain whats wrong to you or what bugs you etc... I know some of the white parts contain no data or close to it...

thanks,

Wyatt

-MacAbee Beach, Monterey, California

-Olympus C-3030, Single SB-105 w/diffuser

-I removed a couple of pieces backscatter on the right

The image works for me as it is, actually. Composition's good, lighting's a bit stark (but that can be easily fixed), and the complementary colours in the negative space make for a nice overall feel to the picture.

i like it as is too

Kudos from me too! you didn't bullseye it...

great job!

I know i'm not a photo guy but I loved it.

Detail was great and the contrast to the green background..WOW !!

And shot with the C-3030 ??

Either my eye for stills is getting better or its the 'Carlsberg Export' kicking in. But great anyway.

Dive safe

DeanB

I actually felt I needed to say more than just .. i like it as is ...

it instantly reminded me of and motivational poster. nnot this specific one but that style.

i think it is the very strong clours and contrast.

Maybe this one would be 'Potential' or something like that.

Great shot but I think you've fallen into the trap that a lot us who take underwater photos do. When I look at this shot I can appreciate the subtlety of the lighting and the difficulty of balancing the background and I say...wow. When a non-photographer looks at this shot their reaction is probably something like - nice anemone shot - ho hum. They'd probably be more impressed with a very colorful anemone close-up.

First off - thanks for posting this it has been over a month since someone posted here.

You are missing one thing in this picture (to non divers.photographers) and that is the most important thing in any picture - impact!

Agreeing with the others the pic has a real style and look to it that is polished and professional, beautuful with the green negative space.

All of us will appreciate it but a non photographer/diver just sees a thing. It is a great shot but to make it a winning shot it needs a better subject. A fish inside with a slightly tighter crop still keeping most of the negative space would make it a really strong picture. If your good in photoshop you could put one in the middle.

An artistic person or someonce who at least appreciates art would appreciate it but most people don't look at things this way. It has subtle impact to me in the colors and compositon, I would still hang it on my wall. It is a great habitat type pic, a nice fish inside or outfront would really make it, so nothing wrong with the pic just what's not in the pic.

-Steve

Thanks for so much feedback so soon! Yeh I saw there hadn't been a post in a while... I like the motivational poster idea heh... definately that same kind of coloring/style. Ok so just for fun here is the original.

well, apart from the fact according to others you needed to do something like super glue a fish in the scene to improve it, barring mother nature and your control over her you did a great job already of improving the image.

You created enough extra contrast and saturation to create more feel and texture to the anenome, and the cloning work on the backscatter is unoticeable until you showed us.

I always like seeing how much after shot work people will do to an image as I rarely can be bothered to do mine, but I am always happy to see such subtle effects to trim an image into shape.

I don't believe the image improvement center is about saying the obvious like .. you could have made that image better if you had found that very same thing just with a fish ... a shark ... a scuba diving womble ... maybe sometimes it is ..?

as for this image again .. great job .. you seem to have nailed any improvement you could have done with your already existing shot. IMO

I don't believe the image improvement center is about saying the obvious like .. you could have made that image better if you had found that very same thing just with a fish ... a shark ... a scuba diving womble ... maybe sometimes it is ..?

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If you re-read Wyatt's original question regarding family reaction and re-read my response... I think it is clear I was saying that if you want more of a reaction you would need more impact in the shot, a more understandable subject for non/divers etc. It is a fantastic shot but why don't people react? - they don't know what they are looking at. If Wyatt want's to improve this reaction (my opinion) he would need to get out the "(photoshop)Super glue" so to speak.

Beside the point we can say whatever the heck we want, is there freedom of Speech in Grand Cayman?

This doesn't change my vote for you for super model of the year BTW.

-Steve

It is a very nice shot, close focus, wide angle are usually always dramatic as is yours. Being a cold water diver and also a fan of CFWA, I instantly saw real impact in that image, but land lubbers or inexperienced photographers don't know the difficulty in getting those images. Would a diver in the green have created more interest? Probably, but you shoot what you can in the situation you are in during the conditions presented, that's it!! You did what you did given the circumstances and I think you performed fantastically.

Joe

It is very tough to separate ourselves from our images. We know what went into making an image; viewers have no clue, and judge solely by what they see.

Here's one that happened to me:

A few years ago (as happens here every summer) the area suffered from a huge forest fire, headed for the edge of town and houses.

Since I couldn't get a decent shot of the aerial tankers from under the trees, I dropped most of my gear, climbed up to the top of a tree, hung by one hand while I shot with the other, all the while the ludicrously slender top of the tree was swaying terrifyingly, in the wind, about 30 feet above the ground.

I did get the shot, though, of an air tanker dropping retardant on the fire.

When I got back to the paper, the Photo Editor took one look and said "So?"... "Where's the interest? It would have been nice if there were some houses in the image, or something. What's the story?" Although it ran p1, I felt about as big as a cleaner shrimp about it.

I was crushed. The bottom line... just because you went through really difficult contortions, or creative techniques, it's still the seen image that counts.

All the best, James

It is a very nice shot, close focus, wide angle are usually always dramatic as is yours.  Being a cold water diver and also a fan of CFWA, I instantly saw real impact in that image, but land lubbers or inexperienced photographers don't know the difficulty in getting those images.  Would a diver in the green have created more interest? Probably, but you shoot what you can in the situation you are in during the conditions presented, that's it!! You did what you did given the circumstances and I think you performed fantastically.

 

Joe

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You're right, it may just take a cold water diver's perspective. I think I have always sort of seen this rift here. Tropical diving and cold water that is, they are completely different shooting environments. The first being the "easiest". Take a look at the weekly photo competitions and there is usually an overwhelming amount of tropical shots vs. cold water. I think this why a lot of cold water shots get passed up too. BUT, aside from that, input from the tropical divers is really helpful, this gives me some more ideas for when I go down next time. I will definatley be thinking about the comments I've read. I should be diving an oil rig Thursday to do some collecting... hopefully I can sling my 7070 over my back for some cool shots! (visibility permitting)

Thanks to all for your input, I value it greatly. I'll be sure to keep this improvement part of the forum active... soon as I get some more recent photos.

Here are related shots that I like just about as much or maybe a little more... and yes I like to shoot these anemones, they are one of my favorite subjects...

Cheers

Oh yeh can anybody help me with using PS to create smooth, solid backdrops (the water, blue/green gradients) to replace my crappy digital noisy ones??? I've read quite a few tutorials, can't get a good method for making the background look stellar. It really shows in the prints, and I'd like to fix it.

Are you sure it's noise and not back scatter?

First, I think the left image in you second posting had more impact. It has to do with the angle that you took the picture. If the second image's anomene was a colorful as the first I think the impact would be there.

On the first image, Is is possible that you over cropped and could creat a similer view with your original image?

I like it. I would not change anything.