Tadpole Shrimp

[Steve Maxson]

This Tadpole Shrimp (Order Notostraca, Lepidurus sp.) is about 1.3 inches long including the "tails" (cercopods). They are found in shallow ponds, are omnivorous, and spend most of their time on the bottom, but can also swim in an undulating manner as this one is doing. 2.5 gal aquarium setup, 1D IV, 100 mm macro, 1/160, f/16, ISO 200, 2 remotely fired 430EX II flashes (manual mode, diffused), HH, AF. I applied some nr to the background. All comments are welcome and appreciated.

[Bob Miller]

Steve...This looks good to me! Nice sharpness and detail throughout. Nice use of flash as I cannot tell it was flashed! I like the position in the frame.

[Jonathan Ashton]

What a shot! Lovely detail and pose, it has a marine look about it - reminds me of those horseshoe crabs. A very interesting subject - I have to admit I had not even heard of it before, I will read up about it, I am just wondering if we get them this side of the pond, if so I will be looking!
I can find little to criticise in the image, I like the faint streakiness in the background and also the way the flash has hit parts of the shrimp to give slightly uneven illumination. If I was being really picky I would suggest (in bird forum parlance!) a slight head turn would have improved even further.

[Andrew McLachlan]

Hi Steve, this is so cool...never seen one of these guys before. I have tried photographing fairy shrimps in small 2.5 gallon aquariums before and I can imagine that this is as difficult. Awesome!!!

[OvidiuCavasdan]

Color combination is great, details are nice and very good work with flashes. Very interesting creatures, as always with these aquarium images.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Very nicely done, Steve, and a very interesting species. A bit more room on the right would have further improved the composition. What are you using as a BG here? It almost looks like sky and I think that the light blue does not really compliment the orange of the shrimp. The underwater photo's of this sort of creatures I've seen, usually have a darker BG, which is more greenish or brownish. Maybe you could try with some other artificial BG's and see if you can find something more natural.

[Steve Maxson]

Thanks for the comments everyone - they are much appreciated!