Last Breath

The mullet moved along the beach front like a dark cloud, that unfortunately stirred the fishermens' interest. I was surprised to see such a large haul dragged from the ocean by ancient, rusty tractors. Whilst the scene was interesting, I was a little saddened at the plight of the fish. So close to the sea, still struggling to escape. I hoped to capture the idea of the still, dying fish against the sparkling, moving sea.

A lot of the images of waves I shot were completely blown like this, so I am hoping B&W conversions might be something to try.

In ACR - Higlights tot he right and shadows to the left.
In PSCS6 - Curves adjustment. B&W Conversion with Silver Efex. Dfine on whole image. Fish smart sharpened. A tiny hint (3% cyan) painted on some fish.

Canon 5D2
f16 @ 1/3200 sec
ISO 1000
70-200mm @ 200mm
Hand Held

Things I am pondering:- The little sparkly bits in the FG? The halo effect on the BG island? It was in the original capture. There was a sea mist (spray). Early afternoon winter sun.

C&C Always welcomed and appreciated!

Glennie, I love this shot and the story told.

I notice from your two seascape and this one you have a lot of horizontal lines in your composition (as opposed to diagonal). I have not been very successful in using horizontal lines for composition but I think you nailed it in this shot and your last storm shot. I like the cyan paint on the fish which adds sparkle to the image. I would consider adding a tiny bit of field blue on the OOF waves just to tone down the specular highlights but not too much because it is an amazing contrast to the dead fish.

Overall I think you are very successful with this image. As I said earlier, the strongest aspect of this image is its story telling which often times we forget when we shoot bird (it's hard enough to get the perfect pose on a perfect perch with a perfect head angle and a perfect sun angle, who cares about story. LOL). So, you deserve the highest commendation for this picture. :5

We want to see more!

Ah Adhika! Thank you. You know you are the inspiration behind my more recent shots. I love what you are posting in the Landscape (and other) forums. You look at things and see line and light and texture, balance (or unbalance), those elements that make art pleasing (or disturbing). And you are right about the bird on a stick. I must admit those birds have taught me an awful lot. They are ever present, close...and, now, quite endearing to me.

I had tried a tiny bit of blue in the waves also, but thought it may be perceived as a little kitsch. Would you have noticed if I didn't tell you?

I actually thought you just process it with low opacity oSelenium tone grading on SEP and then I saw you brushed on some cyan on the fish. So I did not really notice the blue in the water.

As an aside, I have never seen fishing done this way, though. As in hauled by a tractor. That must've been quite interesting, Glennie. Did you camp at this beach?

A wonderful image that tells a great story! The varied positions of the fish convey the dynamic action of their struggle and hopeless plight against the tight net.

I think B/W is perfect for this. The bokeh (which is properly defined as the quality of the OOF areas, not DOF or how OOF they are) in the water is not so pleasing. Specular highlights are always a problem for OOF areas. You might experiment with some blur in the water and possibly reducing the highlights there. In that area you might do a different raw processing and bring it in as a new layer, backing off of the contrast increase from Highlights right and Shadows left.

Adhika - Yes. We were camped right on the beach in a little tent. Bliss!

Diane - Oh no! I've crashed and burned. I rather liked the specular highlights. I have a few other frames that I might play with.

It's like taste in fashion -- everyone has their own likes and dislikes. My tastes aren't any more "right" than those of anyone else, especially in pictures! I just toss them out for thought. For me, the water overpowers the fish, but it could be valid for the viewer to first see the water and then discover the plight of the fish. This art stuff is SO hard! :w3

Diane, yes. It is hard. I guess, at this stage of my photography, I am still looking at what works for most people. (And I should be looking at what works for me) And yes, when I look a the fish image, I do notice the sea first. Is that what I wanted? No.

Yes, do what works for you, but first it's important to learn what works for most people -- its like learning the rules before you can break them meaningfully.