hard to see when it is that small of a preview

well there is no frame so i suppose i shouldn’t be sorry for that :/

LOL… i’m sneaky that way. if you use the image url from your art EDIT pages, the preview size is perfect for forums

i like the way you used DOF on this to keep your eye along the major diagonal it works real well placing the fish with teeth on the lower left power point also works well with me. I would hang this on my wall (my wife on the other hand lol) anyhow really enjoyed the picture keep getting close!

Hey Mik, I really like this! I’m a sucker for shallow dof, and the glittery bokeh you’re captured is great. I also like the comp and tones of this image. While I wouldn’t hang this on my wall, I can certainly see it hanging in a fish monger’s shop, or a seafood cafe. I keep looking at it, so that’s a good thing isn’t it? LOL!

Out of interest, what lens did you use? (Just collating info here…)

i keep picturing the movie Alien

i used a nikkor 50mm 1:1.8 lens at 1.8 and 1/125

yep, I though it was something like that. I’m getting to know equipment, so that’s good for me! yeh!

And Dana – that image – what the hell is that – and now I know why I don’t watch horror movies – yikes, it’s the stuff of nightmares!!

get over it girl. alien is a classic and not really horror – sci fi/action

I do not like the shallow DOF in this instance, as too much is in the blurred part and the eye that is in focus is way over in the corner. A different crop moving it over and up might make it better and also getting rid of some of the blur at the top.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS
Love the colours, love those teeth. Good use of DOF – looks like he used a “Lensbaby”.

TECHNICAL QUALITY (out of 10 points)
Settings:
Nikkor 50mm 1:1.8 lens
f1.8
1/125sec.

Nikkor make fantastic lenses and it shows here. The f1.8 is super-fast and allows for some very creative use of Depth of Field (DOF).

Exposure: Basically good, but there are some areas, especially in the lower left region that are burnt-out (over-exposed) and have resulted in a loss of detail. This burn-out is particularly distracting.

Before and after any post production work, try squinting your eyes when looking at your photo. The parts you can see will be the brightest. Do you really want that part to be the most “attention-seeking” aspect of your photo?

This can be corrected in post-production by creating a B&W negative layer and doing some careful blending of the layers to restore some detail in those areas. Conversely you could under-expose slightly when taking the shot, which is what I always do since digital cameras have a tendency to over-expose slightly anyway.

Blacks are nice and black, which is refreshing to see.

Lighting: I am going to assume that this was in a fish shop or fish market of some kind…

Lighting then would have been quite bright and from above, which is apparent from the burn-out in the lower left region. Lighting would have been quite evenly distributed.

I don’t think the bright areas have been balanced against the dark areas very well.

Colour Saturations: There aren’t a lot of colours here. Mostly blacks, browns, some reds and golds.

Saturations are very nice, and the fish have a very “wet” look about them.

Focus / Depth of Field: Very good use of DOF, and the focus on those teeth seems to be super-sharp, which draws the viewer’s eyes immediately, over and over…

The position of the focussed area makes me think you have used a Lensbaby to focus only a certain region of the image. Either way, I like the focus and DOF. They both work very well to maintain interest in the most intriguing part of this image.

Sharpness: As I said before, the focus/sharpness is superb on those teeth. Very good choice and execution of technique.

Score: 8

INTEREST (out of 10 points)
Aesthetics / General appearance: The colours are intense and attractive. The DOF and Focus is interesting. This image caught my attention straight away because of the use of colour saturation and DOF.

Emotional Content: As has been commented by Dana, this is quite an emotive image. Comparisons to the “Alien” movie are well deserved. I know this was not your intent, but anyone who has seen those films would have quite a physical reaction to this image. I know I did.

Those teeth are very menacing and I think most viewer’s would have silently thought “I reckon that would hurt if it bit me!”

Storytelling ability / Creative communication of a concept or idea: You have taken this shot away from a predictable “fish in a fish shop” photo and concentrated on something else altogether. I think you have communicated feeling and emotion here very well by good use of Point of View, Focus and DOF.

Originality: Pleasantly different. After a quick scan through RedBubble, searching for “FISH” I did not find any images that looked like this one.

Score: 8.5

COMPOSITION (out of 10 points)
Framing / Cropping: I think the framing is fine. I like the inclusion of the fish on the lower left region because you can see its eye. But I would like to have seen the camera pointed slightly to the right a bit more, mostly to avoid the burn-out on the lower left region.

You can not see the eyes of the other fish (including Mr Teeth) which is a shame, but fish have their eyes on the side so it is hard to include their eyes with front-on photographs. However if the fish to the right of Mr Teeth had his eyes visible – that would have been awesome. He would have been staring at the viewer while the other was showing his teeth!

Simplicity of Design: Fish fish and more fish. Nothing else is really needed to tell this story.

Simple clean construction.

Points of Interest: Teeth and eyes. The POI have been enhanced by good use of DOF and Focus.

Rule of Thirds: n/a

Lines & Diagonals: n/a

Balance / Use of Negative Space: When squinting at this image there are some dark areas and some bright areas which don’t balance each other at all. This is only a minor issue here, but one worth remembering since it would subtly improve what is already a good image.

Score: 7.5

GENERAL COMMENTS
I like this photo.

Nice use of colour saturations and DOF/Focus.

Some minor issues with balance between dark & bright areas, framing and burn-outs, but overall a good photo with plenty of emotion.

Unfortuneatly it is somewhat of a “record-shot” and viewers’ interest may wain after a few viewings, but that does not detract from this being, of its type and style, a good photograph.

Well done.

Total Score : 24 / 30

Hiya Sparrowdk,

A LENSBABY is a very cool attachement that you place on the front of your lens and by moving it around, you can select certain areas of your image to be in focus. Of course the rest of the image will be out of focus.

Lensbaby also now make a pseudo “TILT-SHIFT” lens attachment. Very Very cool.

You are more than welcome to disagree. The point is that if we all explain why we disagree, then we all learn more and more as artists.

Oh and BTW, I am sending some hard hitting pipe wielding home-boys round to get medieval on yo’ ass!