hippocampus pontohi [hammer me]

Hello and (late) Merry Christmas to all,

First of all small story and later the big question.

Yesterday during some intense dialog with one well awarded photographer, I was given a very interesting point about the photo below (the whole dialog was about different subject, but this was an example). The point was that pontohi is not some unique subject any more (Ok, I know this) and in order to have any chance with photo like this on any photo competition one have to catch some crazy moment or create some unbelievable lighting, but still the chance it will be out long before the first round, like a very usual and popular subject.

Now several words about the photo: it is about 70% crop made with reverse 50mm lens on bellows (the only way I know to bring good detailization and avoid aberrations and diffractions problems from converters and dioptres). So the magnification is about x4. But who cares (as it was pointed to me too) I cannot attach the photo story to any picture (and I am totally agreed).

Now the questions:

1) So, please hammer me down. Is it really a waste of time to seek for one more step in details (and spending 10 times the time and losing the chance to do make some other subjects photo)?

2) It is hard to state the exact question here - it is kind of part of the story above, but I would really like to hear the whole truth here... yet again hammer me down here, PLEASE.

Sorry for the size of the picture (I do read the rules, but in this case...)

Hello Mr Maxim..

Well, what the problem is for me with this photo is the fact the mouth etc is out of focus. you have great focus on the eye but the mouth nose is out of focus and i immediately found that distracting.

If the seahorse was looking at the camera as opposed to side on I would think it was not nearly as distracting. I think its the side on/"ID" photo of it that would make it not that contest worthy. Perhaps if it was looking more toward the camera it would have more personality and stand out more.

These guys are such a pain in the ass to shoot

Capture the viewer with eye contact. Weigh isolation (depth, lighting) and detail. Minimize distractions. Do you see a message in the image? What's the take-away?

My feeling is similar to Mike's comments...