Breakfast for a Turtle

[First Light]

Here is a new one that I took this morning, trying to be mindful of the advice I've received so far. I took several pics, but this one is my fave. I'm especially interested in what you think of the composition, though, because some of the ones I took have much more negative space. Here's the camera info:

Cannon EOS T3
Natural light, flash not used
lens EFS 18-55mm
focal length 55mm
1/80
exposure time 0.0125s
f 5.6
ISO 1000
Mode setting: Macro

Thanks!!

[First Light]

Does anyone have any thoughts??

What do you think of the composition? Is it interesting??

[BigFuzzy]

I know I probably won't sound particularly nice saying this, but I think the reason there's been little commentary is that, to me, it's a pretty ordinary snap shot. Here's why I think so and what I'd have done (if possible of course) to make it less so.

1. Composition - this is clearly a "I'm standing here at a pretty standard position shooting down on the turtle" sort of position. Yes, maybe you were kneeling/lowered a bit, but the angle of view is pretty much the same. The reason this doesn't work is that this is exactly how everyone on the planet sees this exact same scene. You've not done anything to make it stand out. I would have gotten waaaay lower, likely laying down on my belly shooting this shot. I'd have framed it with shallow depth of field focusing on the turtle coming at the frame with the strawberry blurred out but still in the scene. Change things up. Make them different. Everyone with a camera could have taken this shot.. think about how to make it different. It’s also composed pretty much smack in the middle.. some of the others with negative space (hopefully in the direction the turtle is looking) might have been better. Being picky, the blade of grass between turtle and strawberry is distracting a bit.

2. Exposure - It’s pretty washed out, likely because of mid-day shooting though it looks as if there was some cloud cover. This sort of lighting washing out the image and colors in general. A lot of this can be corrected in PP.

In the end, it’s a decent “for the record” snapshot, but it’s not something where you seemed to have put a lot of thought into in terms of creating a nice photograph. Just a bit of thought, particularly in the composition and positioning of yourself, could have allowed this image to be a lot more.

[First Light]

Thank you for your input. It's not mean, it's exactly what I want: to take my photos from "boring" to something more!
Here is another one from that day, one of the ones with more negative space in the composition:



Interestingly, no, these were not taken at mid-day, but at the crack of dawn. However, the first one was edited in Picasa for fill light. This one I did not edit for fill light. Is the lighting better? How about the composition?

[smokingredmoon]

I like the the first photo more than the 2nd.. the first one is a little less "snap-shotty".

The one thing about the photo that stands out is the color of the turtle's mouth, i would have gone in for a closeup of the strawberry glob on the Turtle's mouth.

[First Light]

Originally Posted by smokingredmoon

I like the the first photo more than the 2nd.. the first one is a little less "snap-shotty".

The one thing about the photo that stands out is the color of the turtle's mouth, i would have gone in for a closeup of the strawberry glob on the Turtle's mouth.

Like this, perhaps?

[smokingredmoon]

yup..but keep the strawberry in the photo.

[First Light]

Thanks for the advice! Anyone else care to chime in?

[Tzetsin]

I dont know what kind of gear you have, but a polarizing filter will take care of the glare on the top of the shell and reveal all the color and detail there. This filter will drop about 2 stops of light though, so you might not be able to hand hold it first thing in the morning.

If this is your turtle (meaning you can get another shot) find a more interesting place to shoot it. all the dead grass is distracting.

[kristoferjohn]

Very cool images,I like second photograph,You editing photograph in proper way,lighting is good.Thanks for sharing Images.