Moray Eel with lots of kicked up sand particles

I recently got this shot of a Moray Eel in Grand Cayman. Unfortunately, it was a fairly crowded dive with lots of fins kicking up sand. I've removed a few spots that I felt detracted from the image but at this point I don't think there's much more I can do. What do you think? Is the sand still distracting or acceptable?

I recently got this shot of a Moray Eel in Grand Cayman. Unfortunately, it was a fairly crowded dive with lots of fins kicking up sand. I've removed a few spots that I felt detracted from the image but at this point I don't think there's much more I can do. What do you think? Is the sand still distracting or acceptable?

 

 

At least at this magnification the sand does not bother me; unusual and interesting composition.

I don't think the sand detracts much at all from the photo. I like the unique compisition which catches my eye and then the sergeant majors also as a secondary subject. You might try darkening the background a bit if the sand worries you.

It's a really cool shot! Some sand isnt defenetly an issue here.

If you are really worried about the sand, then you can try a layer blending trick if you have Photoshop:

Make a duplicate layer.

Blur the duplicate layer with eg the Gaussian blur filter set to a radius of, say 15-20 pixels.

Add a layer mask. Blend mode should be set to "normal".

Set the foreground colour in the tool palette to black (you can click the small symbol that sets foreground to white and background to black, then click the black icon to swap them over).

Fill the layer mask with black (the uncool method is to use the paint-bucket tool). The blurred image disappears.

Select a pen tool with a radius of, say, 40 pixels.

Flip the foreground colour selection from black to white.

Paint over the sand particles: watch them blur into obscurity. White patches appear on the mask, showing where the blurred layer is being revealed.

Lots of Photoshop books have advice on using layers.

The sand may be more objectionable in a larger image, tho' it's not very distracting on your posted image.

Tim

Thanks for the advice Tim. I'm pretty good with Photoshop. I'm a little worried that it would be difficult to get a natural looking edge between the eel and softened background but maybe I should it give it a shot.

I like this shot, very nice. The sand particles don't bother me too much at all. Have you tried doing an Auto Tone in Photoshop (in CS4, Auto Levels in earlier versions I believe) it doesn't always give good results, but in this case it brings out the colours more and gives the background a darker blue colour. You can then do an Edit - Fade Auto Tone to drag it back to where you want it. Just a thought.

I agree with others - I like the shot as is. Most people won't even notice the sand, as the subject is so compelling.

I agree that you might be able to darken the background a little (e.g., darken blacks in Raw converter), and it might even make the eel jump out more! Great shot in any event!

Thanks for the input everybody. I'll try playing around with background levels.