What's missing

I've been doing mostly macro shooting with my new set-up. I've seen definitely improvement in the quality of my images, but they are still missing that extra "kick". So IYO what's missing? Depth of field could be better, and perhaps work on composition? Any suggestions?

Thanks,

J.C.

P.S. More images HERE

The thing I notice in this shot is that the right foreground is very distracting; either a different crop or shot from higher and to the left may have been a better composition.

Could you have shot the shrimp from the front instead of from the rear? Even at an angle with the subject comming towards you might be more interesting. When reviewing and post-processing my pictures, my wife calles these types "Fish-Butt". Mostly, Fish-Butt occurs with a P&S and the long shutter lag as the fish begins to swim away milliseconds after the shot of a lifetime turns and runs...uh swims.

I agree with loftus that foreground and background both play into a well composed photo.

That's really good advice about the foreground. It really distracts for the main subject. I went back and looked at some of the other frames I captured at the same time and found this one:

What do you guys think?

Thanks for all the good advice

I think the shot is over exposed, it does not have any pop from the subject because the surrounding area is too bright, the subject is washed out. I would play with the exposure and lighting positions next time. Here is a quick edit to get more pop. Some may say it is too saturated but I like my edit better than the original. Easy photoshop stuff you can do also, to save the pics.

Aha! That makes a lot of sense. And I do like your edit better too.

Thanks

Thanks - 2min edit..... use the burn tool and go all around the subject, then use the sponge tool around 50% saturation and dab the shrimp, pump the contrast up a tiny bit and done.

OK, now take the second shot you posted, crop out as much of the foreground and background as you can, leave more space on the right to lead in towards the critter, and do the same edit to make the colours pop that photobeat did - I think you'll have a much more interesting shot, maybe even a keeper.