A Brutal End
by volcom36

Comment by volcom36:
Wow I am actually really stoked on my placement for a number of reasons. I took this photo while I was out on the boat and didn't know what the challenge was going to be, I just happen to have a photo that worked. I know I should of used a larger depth of field, which I did on my other salmon shots, but this one worked out better compositionally. Another problem I have is editing with my basic macbook, the LCD interupts my color and contrast so badly I never know what it is really going to look like, I need to purchase a external monitor. Editing was really basic, small crop and few minor adjustments to contrast and brightness. I am out at sea again and I left my laptop back in town otherwise I would tell you specifically, but I wont be back until the begining of september sorry.

A Brutal End
by volcom36

Comment by MistyMucky:
Greetings from the Critique Club :)

First of all, congratulations! I was looking for another great picture I do remember from this site, in order to compare it with yours. I went through the 25 pages you get after searching for 'fish' and did not find it. But I found that yours was the best from the photos with lots of fish!

So what's a picture of fishes about?
First of all it is about great shapes. The shape of an open mouth is striking and you did well to place it in the center of your composition in order to draw the attention. The tail is another prominent shape and it works well in a corner, but the bottom right part gets a bit lost in the chaotic background.
Secondly, it's about patterns. Again, the diagonal alignment works very well and the one fish lying in the other direction (tail) disturbs the pattern nicely. The pattern would be more effective if it was a bit more regular, but I suppose you could not rearrange them before shooting.
And lastly it's about great shiny colors. Here you missed a bit an opportunity to trigger the WOW-reaction which is so important on this site. I would have played a bit more with curves and saturation or even better tried the LAB technique described here: //ronbigelow.com/videos/videos.htm

From the technical side, your photo is very good. I'm just not sure about the narrow depth of field, it does weaken the pattern and is perceived as a fault when it is not obviously intentional. I would have used f/5.6.

With a subject which is not necessarily the favorite pet of most of the voters, you did really well. I'm sure you have a great future on DPC! If you have any questions about this critique, please contact me.

A Brutal End
by volcom36

Comment by tnun:
Slippery, slithy and sweet.

A Brutal End
by volcom36

Comment by posthumous:
I never get tired of fish heads. Well captured.

A Brutal End
by volcom36

Comment by vawendy:
awesomely cool photo!! Absolutely love the colors

Just moved it up to a 10 -- this is a magnificent shot. I'd love to see the original to find out how much processing was done.

A Brutal End
by volcom36

Comment by Jason_Cross:
I never liked fish.

A Brutal End
by volcom36

Comment by Bilberry:
By far the most well constructed image. The lighting makes the most of the moist colourful sheen of the fish. Excellent

Yesss, I Quit My Job For This!
by volcom36

Comment by rhadshaw:
I think you needed a sightly faster shutter speed to truly freeze the action in sharp focus. As it currently stands, you are in a kind of "no man's land" between not really blurry enough to imply motion and not sharp enough to stand out as a captured instant in time.

Yesss, I Quit My Job For This!
by volcom36

Comment by Yo_Spiff:
Is he making any money at this gig? Wonderful action shot.

Yesss, I Quit My Job For This!
by volcom36

Comment by Mal37:
Nice action.