The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
Imagine that you are scuba diving at a depth of 50 feet around a coral reef near Indonesia. Or if you prefer, my basement reef tank! I decided to use the light provided by an Orphek LED light to capture the colors that are fluorescing from the coral’s tissue. I waited for the powerheads to push the polyps from left to right and took about 50 shots before picking a single one for editing. I had to push the white balance up to 50,000 with tint at -18. Further adjustments were made to bump up the purples and greens.
Specific Feedback
This is a very loose composition with about 4 polyps in very tight focus. How does this work for you?
Technical Details
Z9 60mm f2.8 Micro (1/100 sec at f18, ISO 5000) White balance, DeNoise, Levels, Curves, saturation increase of greens and purples, Crop for comp, burn tool, Brightness reduction, bump up in Contrast. Enjoy!!
Critique Template
Use of the template is optional, but it can help spark ideas.
Vision and Purpose:
Conceptual:
Emotional Impact and Mood:
Composition:
Balance and Visual Weight:
Depth and Dimension:
Color:
Lighting:
Processing:
Technical:
Oh wow, Jim, this is really neat. For one who doesn’t even swim or have a aquarium, I really am enjoying this. I like that you caught it with the left to right position. Excellent job!
Excellent work, Jim. Sounds like a suitable occupation for cold weather. I really like the left-right flow in the image and all your work in lighting and processing paid off.
That looks very interesting. Colors, movement, and depth: everything is very harmonious and convincing. What an extraordinary hobby to keep a basement reef tank.
Jim, you’ve got a good sense of motion and fine colors here. Saltwater tanks require such dedication. You’ve done well both with the tank and with this photo.
Very cool! I think it might be interesting to flip it 90 degrees counter-clockwise, so the movement is upward vs. horizontal/down. Maybe more energetic that way.
Hi Jim,
I keep coming back to this one. I love it: the idea, the motion, the colors. Part of me wonders if a slight tweak in color temperature might make this more appealing somehow. And maybe some kind of crop to isolate the forms from the top edge?
It’s a fantastic photo as is, but I wonder about those two things.
ML
NIce! I miss my reef tank, had it for 15 years until I retired and hit the road. You did a great job with the colors on this! I’m impressed that you captured the weird reef tank lighting and fluorescence. You got the saturation just right too. I also love the sense of movement, which is conveyed in part by your composition with some of the polyps cut off. Maybe you can play with slow shutter speeds in some future photos to be like ICM, only IPM intentional polyp movement.
Jim, this is a wonderful image. I love the flow left to right, and the colors are stunning. I like the focus in the foreground , grading to slightly out of focus in the background. The photo really caught my eye.
