Jacks at HI-A389

Shot with the Nikkor 16mm and Nikon D100:

I love the reflection from the jacks and the muted legs of the platform in the background. All comments appreciated - any way to improve the shot? Too light or dark?

Exposure info was f8 @ 1/60th Strobes on 1/8th power.

Here are some Horse-eyed jacks:

1)

2)

Which do you like better, 1 or 2?

Cheers

James

I like #2 better

I like seeing the surface water...#1 seems crowded at the top and dark

Karl

1 !

I really like the way that the legs of the platform lead your eye up into the jacks. Agree that it could be a bit brighter.

Alex

#2 does it for me. The negative space in the bottom of #1 just doesn't feel right to me.

Nice shots James.

I like #1 better. The upper left most fish in #2 has it head cut off which I think detracts from the composition. Also agree that it can be brighter.

Definitely number 1. The jacks are uniorm and much closer together. #2 they are sort of spaced out a little too much, detracts from the composition. Well done lighting up the jacks though, often they are tough to light up without overexposing them. Where was this taken?

Thanks guys for your kind words, and keep the constructive comments coming. I've calibrated my monitor (Sony Trinitron) twice, but I'm just not happy w/ the results I am getting. Argh!

Photographing a large school of fish is difficult, because you're bound to lop off a few heads and tails. Should I crop it?

I have experience photographing these types of fish so I just set my strobes on the min power setting. Just a touch of light is all that's needed. This was taken underneath a drilling and production platform in 400' of water in the Gulf.

Cheers

James

No cropping, #1 very natural and none of the main fish (up front) are cut off.

A little colour correction would be good though, tough with silver fish. As for number two, cropping would help but thats cheating...

Cropping is most certainly not cheating...lol

Too funny, what a great reaction. Twas just a joke...What does lol mean?

Seriously though, when faced with a decision between two similar photos Jim Church always told me to keep the best one and discard the other, be tough on your personal editing and you will find greater success. Therefore if you need to crop one to make it as captivating as the other then i would stick with the first and discard the second.

Laughing Out Loud (lol)

I always say, when faced with a choice between two evils, choose the one you haven't tried before.

Cheers

James

#2 looks more natural to me. I agree with kdietz and Detonate. The composition looks unbalanced on #1. When you shoot large schools it's almost impossible not to cut some of the fish off - that doesn't bother me a bit. The area of interest in the second photo is the 4-5 jacks in the center of the frame. That's what my eye is drawn to and I think that they're positioned naturally.

Larry