How to improve this shot?

[Genetics]

As usual the best way to learn is to get the harshes reviews.

 

[reefman23]

Here's my amateur effort...

Jesse

 

[Genetics]

Is it too dark? One of my problems is that I bought a new monitor a few months back and it is no longer calibrated properly.

 

[reefman23]

Not sure... my laptop screen hasnt been calibrated either. It is a great shot and a great piece though.

Jesse

 

[melev]

I like the picture, but it is a bit dark. However, mine have been dark as well with my new Nikon, and I'm liking it. Still, I find brightening some images is important, but the shadows do hide some stuff beautifully.

Did you black out all the rest of the image, or does that coral stand alone? That almost looks like a pretty business card to me.

 

[Genetics]

I did darken everything around the coral but it does stand alone. It's actually in the back of the tank as it was a grey/brown when I got it and I wasn't sure it was going to ever really become anything. Then about a month ago, new powerhead placement and BAM! Colored up and just started to take off. I'm looking forward to the coming months with it. I think that is the general consensus with my pictures. I will turn down the brightness on the monitor and see if that helps.

 

[IPT]

I like it, it looks good. Is that a millie?

If you wanted to go crazy, you could lighten it up a bit to bring out some of the detail lost in the bottom (shadowed) aspect of the coral (I'd use a layer and mask so the top parts exposure stays the same).

What F stop did you use? Try stopping way down to F22 if you hadn't taken it that way. You may be able to get that top left branch in sharp focus too. If not, you could always blend two images together (though I am being really anal here ). It looks good as it is! Just some thoughts. I have too much time on my hands - works slow (LOL)

 

[Genetics]

No, it is not a mille. Supposedly a prostrata. Never can tell the two apart. If I find some time I will drop the f/stop lower to see if I can get a bit more focus. Since it is a top down shot the camera can move a bit so the trade off is blurriness to depth.

 

[IPT]

Gotch-ya. Didn't even realize it was top down! My old Bogen tripod had a way you could pull out the center collumn and put it off perpendicular so you could shoot straight down. That could be handy for shots like this - thanks for reminding me I had that!

 

[Genetics]

No problem. Actually, I wish I had money to get a better tripod. But for $60 you can't beat it.

From the image it is difficult to know if it is top down as of the angle of the coral itself.