Photo of The First Day of the year

Hello:

Today I took this photo:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmyv/4233048577/

Thanks for your technical comments about photography.

Happy and Prosperous New Year 2010.

 

: mmyvusenet wrote:
: > Hello:
: >
: > Today I took this photo:
: >
: > http://www.flickr.com/photos/mmyv/4233048577/
: >
: > Thanks for your technical comments about photography.
: >
: > Happy and Prosperous New Year 2010.
: >
:
: Very nice image - good exposure and detail. Only negative I can see is
: the piece of green metal in the top left corner - you could crop it out
: but then you'd screw up the composition because you need a bit of space
: in front of the tortoise.

I was about to respond, but then discovered that Kieran had already said some
of what I would have said. So I'll just build on his comments.

Yes, lose the structure in the upper left corner if you can. As Kieran notes,
you can't crop it out, but maybe you could Photoshoppe it out.

But that won't rescue the image. The tortise is fine, except for the
(flash-induced?) glare on his shell. But the setting is mediocre at best. I
assume this is a zoo animal, since what he's standing on looks more like a
concrete floor than an actual beach. You need to find a camera placement that
makes it look more natural. And the cropping is too confined anyway (I think
Kieran noticed it too); there needs to be more context. You might get away
with it if the tortise were looking at you, but he isn't. He's looking
off-camera to the viewer's left, and there's nothing over there for him to
see.

The picture is technically OK, sharp and correctly exposed. But it looks like
it belongs in a biology textbook, not hanging on a wall.

Bob

 

Bob and Kieran, thanks for the comments, I will try to do some improvements
with this and other species seemed.