Constructive criticism on composition. Please!

Please find attached a pic I took in Similan last Christmas.

I would appreciate your honest thoughts and suggestions

for improvement.

Thomas

Nice shot. Good framing and color. Nice diagonal. Main subjects eyes in focus.

exposure and focus are spot on

If you had shot this goby from the side - maybe front/side view, it would have stood out better from the background. As a diver, it is easy to tell what I'm looking at, but a non-diver might be disoriented by this shot.

I think this particular kind of goby is almost transparent. Imagine if your shot could show the insides of the goby!

The strobe was on the right side upper angle, as such you could not get the transparent body.

If you position the strobe directly over head, angling down, then more light would penetrate the body more directly and bounce off the coral. Showing the insides of the fish.

Then again your shots have a slight over exposure problem (on the right side), so if you did the above everything may appear too white. Hence when changing the angle of the strobe, you will have to turn down the strobe power dial or reduce your EV setting.

Composition wise I prefer a more angled side shot with the fish coming at you. You still can get both eyes in. Then again the coral may have been in your way.

In general, to me, top down shots like that appear flat, but I will admit I myself have similar top down shots.