LionFIsh

another picture...

like it?

amir stern

Great pic; did you crop out the dorsal spines? That's my concern, that they're cut off.

I don't like it, I don't hate it. There are just better images of this fish out there. You are a little high above the eyes shooting downward. The background is not bad but the fish just does not pop out. In addition to what loftus noted, if you cut the fins off on top I would crop the bottom and sides out also and bringing the fish closer to the viewer. Most of the better images have more of a side profile to them with a little more eye contact. The shooting down on the subject I think is the main issue, but certainly this is not a bad pic by any means.

Sometimes you have but one moment to shoot the fish and you have to do your best to compose. Is the shot a keeper? Definately. Given the fact that the spines are cut off is not that big a deal if they were more severly cut off, meaning get a little closer and at more of an angle to the eye. I think this would have been a little more dramatic, but it is what it is. What is most bothersome is the "slight" chipping of the spines. That is what makes the photo a little less impactive. There are plenty of impages that have won competitions with cropped fins (LAUPS last year for example), so it doesn't mean you have a crummy pic, at least in the eyes of 3-4 judges.

Joe