July Photo Contest Voting - Inverts!
- Thread starter BlueCorn
- Start date
HotRodKennel
New member
There are some cool pix to choose from!! I really like #4, #10, and #24. It was a hard decision.
kactusficus
More is not enough
mskolh, #8 is a Lybia Tesselata crab, a.k.a Pom Pom Crab. His body is about 0,8 inch, he carries small anemone in his claws. They are not attached to the body, he's just pinching them all his life long, as defense purpose. On the other hand he feeds the anemone by leaving it some fragments of food.
When he's molding, he leaves the anemone aside, peel skin and then takes the anemones back! Sometimes, it happens that he can loose an anemone during the process, if the anemone goes with the water flow or else... In this case, he tears the anemone left in two parts, and end again with two little gloves who will receover and make two full healthy anemones again!!
Very sweet creature to observe, but very shy...!!
When he's molding, he leaves the anemone aside, peel skin and then takes the anemones back! Sometimes, it happens that he can loose an anemone during the process, if the anemone goes with the water flow or else... In this case, he tears the anemone left in two parts, and end again with two little gloves who will receover and make two full healthy anemones again!!
Very sweet creature to observe, but very shy...!!
jwedehase
New member
Let me preface this by acknowledging this post is heavily opinionated, with MY OPINION, and that I know it will ruffle feathers. However, hopefully this will break the ice and generate more honest, positive critiques here and in other threads. A good, honest critique is valuable and rare. I can be the bad guy to start this off, but I believe we'd all be better served by answers other than "That's awesome!"
Let me also clarify that I am posting as a photographer, not as a reefer. Most of us here are reefers first, who enjoy shooting photographs of our beautiful tanks. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Some of us were photographers first, turned reefer, and have a MUCH higher expectation for what's considered a good photograph. However, since this is the Photography forum, it would seem appropriate to dig a little deeper into the details and techniques of photography, and move beyond the dabbling photographer level.
So here goes:
I'm looking first and foremost for a sharp photograph. If it's blurry, it doesn't matter how good the shot could have been, I can't see it. IMO, #3, #9, #16, #21, #27, #29, #37, and #38 are the only ones sharp enough to be moved into the "Let's look a little closer" round. Now I'm looking at composition and lighting. I'll be very frank here, and again preface this as my opinion. Here's what's going through my head:
3: Not bad, really. The eyes are a little blurry, and there are some specks and artifacts that could have been cleaned up. The exposure works for me. Though a little blown out on the edges of the shell, that's to be expected under MH lighting. The subject matter is only mildly interesting, though. Hermit crabs are difficult to make interesting.
9: Nice color on that rose! The coralline and back glass is a little distracting, but that's sure hard to defeat sometimes. I might have cropped it a little tighter to remove these. It's also a little underexposed. Bump it up a little for some "pop!"
16: This one was the first that made me take a closer look, as I worked through the images. Sharpness is real close, and also aimed at the face, which can be a challenge. The photo is a little muddied and dim, which really hides some of the nice highlights that make this photo catch your eye. Composition is a little mug-shot-esque, but it works alright.
21: It's sharp. Look at the eyeball and mouth "hairs." More DOF would have helped this one. I'm not a big fan of macros, though, because of how they're usually just a showcase of "see how close I can get" without consideration made for composition. For me, this CBS just isn't that cool to look at up close.
27: "Oh, so close!" on the sharpening. The only way to make it any sharper would be digital post processing. The balance of the photo is great, I only wish the claw weren't clipped at the bottom. There's no distracting powerheads, coralline, or anything else in the entire photo. There's nothing that assures you this photo wasn't taken in the wild. Bring up the levels in the mouth area (only because the camera can't capture both the mouth and the white anemone at the same time), and this photo is good to go!
29: What an immediate eye catcher! Nice abstract, and I still want to know what it actually is. Harsh direct lighting did some real damage to this one, though. Is this an actual wild shot? If so, awesome catch!
37: Nice photo of a cool behavior. The fish's eye is pretty distracting, though. And the photo is real warm. The shadows also tell me "on board flash" and that necessarily kills any photo for me. There's also a weird haze around the shrimp's tail and legs.
39: The picture's sharp, but that's as far as this goes. The background looks like a concrete wall, there's the on-board flash again, and unfortunately it's a shot of the dirty end of the digestive tract, not the mouth.
So, all that said, #27 for me.
Let me also clarify that I am posting as a photographer, not as a reefer. Most of us here are reefers first, who enjoy shooting photographs of our beautiful tanks. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. Some of us were photographers first, turned reefer, and have a MUCH higher expectation for what's considered a good photograph. However, since this is the Photography forum, it would seem appropriate to dig a little deeper into the details and techniques of photography, and move beyond the dabbling photographer level.
So here goes:
I'm looking first and foremost for a sharp photograph. If it's blurry, it doesn't matter how good the shot could have been, I can't see it. IMO, #3, #9, #16, #21, #27, #29, #37, and #38 are the only ones sharp enough to be moved into the "Let's look a little closer" round. Now I'm looking at composition and lighting. I'll be very frank here, and again preface this as my opinion. Here's what's going through my head:
3: Not bad, really. The eyes are a little blurry, and there are some specks and artifacts that could have been cleaned up. The exposure works for me. Though a little blown out on the edges of the shell, that's to be expected under MH lighting. The subject matter is only mildly interesting, though. Hermit crabs are difficult to make interesting.
9: Nice color on that rose! The coralline and back glass is a little distracting, but that's sure hard to defeat sometimes. I might have cropped it a little tighter to remove these. It's also a little underexposed. Bump it up a little for some "pop!"
16: This one was the first that made me take a closer look, as I worked through the images. Sharpness is real close, and also aimed at the face, which can be a challenge. The photo is a little muddied and dim, which really hides some of the nice highlights that make this photo catch your eye. Composition is a little mug-shot-esque, but it works alright.
21: It's sharp. Look at the eyeball and mouth "hairs." More DOF would have helped this one. I'm not a big fan of macros, though, because of how they're usually just a showcase of "see how close I can get" without consideration made for composition. For me, this CBS just isn't that cool to look at up close.
27: "Oh, so close!" on the sharpening. The only way to make it any sharper would be digital post processing. The balance of the photo is great, I only wish the claw weren't clipped at the bottom. There's no distracting powerheads, coralline, or anything else in the entire photo. There's nothing that assures you this photo wasn't taken in the wild. Bring up the levels in the mouth area (only because the camera can't capture both the mouth and the white anemone at the same time), and this photo is good to go!
29: What an immediate eye catcher! Nice abstract, and I still want to know what it actually is. Harsh direct lighting did some real damage to this one, though. Is this an actual wild shot? If so, awesome catch!
37: Nice photo of a cool behavior. The fish's eye is pretty distracting, though. And the photo is real warm. The shadows also tell me "on board flash" and that necessarily kills any photo for me. There's also a weird haze around the shrimp's tail and legs.
39: The picture's sharp, but that's as far as this goes. The background looks like a concrete wall, there's the on-board flash again, and unfortunately it's a shot of the dirty end of the digestive tract, not the mouth.
So, all that said, #27 for me.
melev
Well-known member
Thanks for the reply. I like how the large image appears in the page, and didn't know if you had to create 40+ pages of HTML to make that work, or if CSS allows it to display the larger image inside the index somehow. If it does, you'd only have 3 pages, right? Or is it even less than that because of a database? (Feel free to PM me. LOL )
LionFish-xS-
New member
Great Shots All!
I entered this contest not knowing What to expect
Clearly im out classed here my lil Fugi Finepix 3100S isnt up to par with the cannons and Nicons out there...
I picked this Pic due to the funny nature of it I had just walked in the house to find one of my Turbo shells Zooming across the substrate. Apon a closer look i found one of my Tiny hermits had taken over the shell ! A much larger Shell!
I entered this contest not knowing What to expect
Clearly im out classed here my lil Fugi Finepix 3100S isnt up to par with the cannons and Nicons out there...
I picked this Pic due to the funny nature of it I had just walked in the house to find one of my Turbo shells Zooming across the substrate. Apon a closer look i found one of my Tiny hermits had taken over the shell ! A much larger Shell!
aquarius77
In Memoriam
My first time voting in these.
There are some excellent shots but #27 got my vote as well.
There are some excellent shots but #27 got my vote as well.
edr42
New member
jwedehase, #29 is a wild shot (dunno why anyone would put one in a tank!) of a Crown of Thorns Starfish.
I think your little rundown on the way you chose your vote is fantastic, it really gives an informed view of the entries, and is great feedback for future and present contestants.
PS: i had to use the built in flash on my camera at 100 feet because some fool stole my strobes a while ago, hence the kinda harsh lighting.
I think your little rundown on the way you chose your vote is fantastic, it really gives an informed view of the entries, and is great feedback for future and present contestants.
PS: i had to use the built in flash on my camera at 100 feet because some fool stole my strobes a while ago, hence the kinda harsh lighting.
