Longnose Hawkfish

I'm not sure which of these three shots I prefer. Please help me - and be brutal if you have to be.

I personally prefer the angle of the fish in the second photo. The first one is taken from seems to be looking away, and the last one taken with the camera pointing down in comparison

MJ

The second image.

Why?

-the fish fills the frame

-the fish is at a slight diagonal head toward the viewer

-good negative space behind the fish

(one slight problem the out of focus foreground directly below the fish which is slightly distracting.)

Other things to consider:

-always make sure the subject has room to move forward (more space in front of fish than behind it in the frame)

-fish/divers should be swimming into the frame not out of it _or_ away from the viewer

-try to shoot your subject from their eye level or below (this gives the viewer a conversational relationship with the subject)

ATJ, while I definitely prefer the orientation of the second shot, with the fish facing me, the large dark area in the top left corner really detracts from the focus of the picture which is supposed to be the fish. The second shot also has too much yellow hue after looking at the first.

The third one is just too much above and behind.

With that said, I may go against the grain, and put the first one on my wall. I really like the contrast of the light blue showing through the pink coral and the greenness? of the Hawkfish's eye.

The second.

In addition to Chris words that I totally agree, in that frame there is a depth that I think add a lot to the image.

The second.

In addition to Chris words that I totally agree, in that frame there is a depth that I think add a lot to the image.

I agree The second pic. Next time leave a littie room in front of the fish. This would help your composition and follow the rule of thirds.

Here is a slightly different crop of the second image plus a slight adjustment to the colour balance.

Long-nose hawkfish are flashy creatures, and benefit from a simple, dark, background. I think that your crop is going in this direction, so that's why it looks better.

Do you mind if I post my personal favourite, from the Red Sea last Easter, to show what I mean?

Tim

B)

I forgot to include this in my post: I broke at least two of Chris Simmons' rules, above, but I still like the composition!

I think that there is a danger of sticking too closely to the composition that Jim Church called the "discovery pose" when applied to divers. It's much harder to fill the frame, for instance:

How do you achieve a personal vision if you stick to the rules that everyone else is using?

The other rule I regularly break is the "rule of thirds": if you look at classical art it was never used, the more subtle "golden mean" being the focus of the image - a Pythagorean harmony, perhaps.

I like to hide geometric figures in my photographs, though it doesn't always work; I think that it failed here, for instance:

Tim

B)