The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
There is a Soldier Crab population on the Coochiemudlo island inter-tidal zone. They are on average the size of a person’s thumb nail. The biggest difference is they walk forward, not sideways like most crabs. Millions of them emerge from the sand as the tide recedes. They feed on detritus and construct balls of the cleaned sand.
Specific Feedback
I am not sure here. These are the two photos that topped the list of the second day I was there. I intend going there next week when the tides are receding early morning for a third photo shoot (only a short distance from home). Ideas to improve composition or processing would be welcome. This photo was taken when clouds obscured the sun. I am considering a smaller aperture to achieve an increased depth of field
Technical Details
Canon 90D, 120 - 400mm Sigma lens (eq 600mm) ISO 1600, F16 , hand held which is why I used crazy ISO to achieve a very fast shutter speed and hence a sharp image
This sounds like such an interesting place with all these crabs. My suggestion would be to try and find a scene with just a few crabs with spacing between them. This image feels somewhat crowded and the crabs are merging into each other. Definitely a place worth visiting again.
Cool photo. Sounds like a really fun place to shoot. I like Ted’s idea to have a few less crabs in the field, maybe give them a little more room to run in the bottom right. If you’re going back for more shooting maybe try getting really low at crab level, which could be an adventure in itself. Also maybe try a shot of just all crabs, a mass of crabs filling the entire frame. It is great that you can go back and experiment!
HI Rob, f16 did well to get most of the crabs sharp. As mentioned, just a few less crabs and you would have the whole bunch in focus. I still find this to be a pleasing image. Interesting formation and head on look at the crabs.
As an aside, I also shoot with a 90D at times. I find if I use my latest noise reduction software (DXO PureRaw), I can go all the way up to ISO 6400 and still maintain fine details with minimal noise. So I don’t see ISO I600 as crazy at all. This has helped me with certain situations where a very narrow aperture and fast shutter is called for. It also helps a great deal in low light shooting.
Thank you for your comments. Re few crabs with space - I will try “few crabs with spacing between them”. This may work when photographing from height as the spacings between them are small. Re “try getting really low at crab level”, The camera was about half a meter from the ground. I will try lower. I have massed crab shots, but they tend to be either widely spaced wrt their size or jammed against one another. I have a few massed crab photos, but they did not please me. I will try again. Re F16, I think I might try F22, 1/1000 sec and auto ISO to see if diffraction is evident. I am using DXO 8 DeepPRIME XD / XD2s noise control. It is pretty good too.
I will update this post once I have re visited the crabs.
Thanks again
Thank you all for your comments. I tried new photos as you suggested, and am considering going back when it is a bit warmer. These crabs do not seem to like the cold as it was a cold (by our standards) morning and they all remained in bed! Pls find attached photos trying some of your suggestions. F22 and AI servo autofocus also helped get the crabs sharper than the original post, due to both a greater depth of field and the camera constantly re focussing.
