Moraine Whimsy

Image Critiques Wildlife Critiques
1

RRF_150819_0334.jpg
RRF_150819_0334.jpg1500×1000 645 KB

Critique Style Requested: Initial Reaction

Please share your immediate response to the image before reading the photographer’s intent (obscured text below) or other comments. The photographer seeks a genuinely unbiased first impression.

Questions to guide your feedback

Enough fish for one frame?

Other Information

Please leave your feedback before viewing the blurred information below, once you have replied, click to reveal the text and see if your assessment aligns with the photographer. Remember, this if for their benefit to learn what your unbiased reaction is.

Image Description

Moraine Creek might be one of Alaska’s best fly-out fishing and photographic experiences. You can expect to see lots of non-human fishers as bears are very plentiful at this time of the year. They are all here for the sockeye. After watching a bear sow and her cubs chase fish in the creek for a while I climbed up the 60 foot bank behind the creek to look straight down on its main channel. It came as no surprise that I saw the brilliant red sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) filling the channel in the creek. Their forms rendered somewhat indistinct and impressionistic, tending to blend into one another, by the flowing water, its surface covered with ripples as it passes over them.

Technical Details

Canon EOS 5D; Canon EF 70-200mm @ 200mm; f/4 @ 1/400 sec, ISO 400; handheld

Specific Feedback

Are the fish distinct enough for the image to be about the fish, or should this be considered an abstract?

1 Like
2

Nice pattern and very cool abstract !
I like the way they are all facing right side.

3

Thank you @JRajput for your interest. It was not my intent to make an abstract. However, the fish are all below the water’s surface and the refractive index of water is different from air, bending the fish, plus, the fish are swimming upstream and the water is flowing downstream. The fish are all facing the same direction because they are moving upstream to spawn.

4

Hi Bob, I really like this view of the salmon all on the move together. Really interesting seeing their shapes being affected by the shallow water. Love the colors too. No nits from me. Well done.

5

Thank you @Allen_Sparks for your comments. One cannot appreciate how dense the run is until it is directly observed.

6

Bob, I think you need at least two more fish. :smiley: Well, maybe not. I like the beautiful reds against the blues and light beige. The horizontal lines lead into and out of the frame, but I want to remain to enjoy the patterns. I am anxious to see what you say about this interesting shot.

7

Thank you @Barbara_Djordjevic for your comments. Are you asking for more information than what is contained in the “Description” section, above but hidden?

8

Bob, no. What you wrote in the hidden section explained the vantage point from which you took this fascinating photo. Thanks for asking.