The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
I know it’s not a particularly great image aesthetically but it was an impromptu image because I was out chasing shore birds when I saw this thing laying on the beach and I was compelled to take a picture. What makes it worth keeping is what I learned about what it is and why it washed up on the beach. Here’s what I found out;
Lightning (not a typo) Whelk Egg Cases are long, leathery, coiled strings of coin-shaped capsules commonly known as a “Mermaid’s Necklace”. Each casing, which can stretch up to 3 feet long, contains dozens to hundreds of tiny, fully formed baby shells. Whelks are marine Gastropods which can be typically mistaken as Conch. I’m told they’re very tasty but much different than a Conch. I’ve never eaten a Whelk.
Specific Feedback
If you can think of anything I could done to make the image more aesthetically pleaseing, please share it.
Technical Details
The image was taken: 20060413(my birthday btw, in Sanibel Island, Fl with a Konica-Minolta Maxxum 7D(digitial of course), ISO 100, 1/60 sec, at f/6.3, 200mm, no flash, Lens: unkown, but not a Konica-Minolta lens because it didn’t register in exif info.
George, Thanks for the natural history lesson. Anytime I can learn something from a photograph, it doesn’t matter if it is good or bad. As photographers we can be documentary story tellers. The only suggestion I would have is to get closer. A tighter shot showing the individual chambers that make up the ‘necklace’ (Perhaps even with a baby whelk in it) might help tell the story better.
Thanks for taking time to respond. Unfortunately, as I eluded to in the post, I was unaware at the time of the photograph (2006) as to what it was so even if there had been any eggs, which looking at it now there was not, I wouldn’t have known there was anything else to see. But if I ever see one again I’ll know to take a closer look.
Hi Paul,
The subject seems to get lost against the sandy background. Perhaps a crop in and lift the midtones of the whelk casing might make a difference? I haven’t seen these specimens, a great find.
Hello Dinny Jones,
I am the person that submitted the Whelk Egg Case.
You said "
I appreciate your feedback. However I respectfully disagree. I don’t see where the cases get lost in the sand? Perhaps the monitor or whatever you’re viewing on is too bright or not enough contrast. I use Lightroom Classic and Windows-11 on a 13" Samsung Notebook model N930MBE and a Samsung Galaxy A54 5G Android mobile phone. I used LrC to export from the original raw image (MRW - Konica-Minolta). And, I followed the NPN recommended LrC export settings.
Does anyone else agree the cases get lost in the sand?
