Need critique !!

please whats wrong with this picture ?

Your photo suffers from "in the middle syndrome". The exposure is good, and the saturation of the colours is attractive. I have cropped your photo to show that there is more dynamism to a photo when you use the rule of thirds.

Cheers,

Marli

To me, the in the middle is OK, however the fish is slightly turned away from the camera, so the eye contact is not strong. I think if you were slightly closer, and the fish was turned toward you so that you could see both eyes, or at least one looking fwd to the camera, it would be a lot stronger.

Cheers

James

I agree with James, if the fish were looking more at the camera you would have liked it more.

I like the cropped version better however an engaging subject would have also made it better. Otherwise, its done very nice. Photos comprise 3 parts. Luck, skill and equipment. You had two of the 3. I went out this weekend for the first time in months and had 4 dives of uncooperative subjects. If I only could have spoken something in fish language.

The fish in the image looks scared, he is high tailing it out of there. I recognise the feeling because I've taken so many myself. I would offer that we do "speak fish language" in a way. We're big, black, ugly (to a fish) noisy and we're chasing the little guys all around the reef. Fish know what to do when a gapeing black hole heads their way. Almost all the best fish images I've seen have them coming toward the camera. That's hard to get if they aren't comfortable with you in their space. I'm convinced we send out a different vib when we're "hunting". How many times have you run out of film or filled up a card and watched the reef come to life because you relaxed? Easier to say than to do, but I know it's something I work on for every dive.

Steve

Steve,

That's an interesting perspective and one I find hard to argue with. Typically if I haven't gone diving in months and get a quick opportunity to dive, my subjects seem to be very uncooperative. Now if I went on a week long excursion diving 4 times a day, I'm less likely to be in an aggressive hunting mood and seem to find the subjects much more cooperative. Your post is definitely food for thought. Thanks,

Steve,

I'm less likely to be in an aggressive hunting mood and seem to find the subjects much more cooperative.

I'm convinced of it. Howard Hall talked about it in his first book. I'm really working on getting relaxed before I even leave on a trip. It use to take me about three days before the stress worked itself out of my body so I could "be one with the reef" or what ever you want to call it. Now I've got it down to about two dives and I'm good to go. Pack the gear the week before the flight, easy on the connections, etc. On a big trip I almost always try to have a couple of days at a minimum in country before diving. Here is an example of one of my favorites, it's from the old film days. I played with this scrawled filefish to get him to swim into my framer. It's not a great image because I don't like the deep shadow with only one strobe lit from the top. But I'll always treasure that he was confident enough to let me take his portrait.

Nikonos with extention tube. scanned file , no crop

So much is made today about the expression in the image, It's had to get a good one if we are hunting.

Steve

Thanks again. I will certainly take that into consideration the next time I'm diving. I'm usually like a hyperactive kid the first couple of days. I blow through air like a freight train. I learned while free diving with manatees that if you want one to come you simply have to stop moving, relax and wait. Within minutes they'll mob you. I never applied that to fish on the reef but it makes perfect sense. BTW, I love that shot. Incredible macro revealing the detail on the skin.