Picture was taken under a red heat-lamp, through the aquarium glass.
Editing:
Crop (got rid of power cable in the background),
Auto Levels,
Auto Color,
Hue/Saturation (to get rid off purplish hue of the heat lamp)
Resize
Sharpen
Save For Web
Statistics
Place: 202 out of 276 Avg (all users): 5.0318 Avg (commenters): 6.0000 Avg (participants): 5.0000 Avg (non-participants): 5.0526 Views since voting: 745 Views during voting: 237 Votes: 157 Comments: 7 Favorites: 0
First off he/she does look still…so it fits the challenge. I do like the subject, but just the turtle by its self lacks appeal. A different background might have added interest, some plants maybe. The background here is very flat, it would even work better if it was darker and had more contrast. That goes for the entire image also. It needs more contrast, but you are limited with the basic rules…any more and it will make the right side go completely white and parts of the shell go black. You could make the same shot 10X better with just a bit of dodge, burn, and layers. So with the contrast part you might just be stuck. The lighting is not too flattering on it either. I have had a few turtles and the stripes on the neck should either be white or a light yellow…hope I’m semi-right…haha. I would like to see more green in the shell rather than red. I’m sure the little guy appreciates the heat lamp though. Sometimes if you use an auto level it will make whites white…but on half the shots I use that with I get a far worse result, just experiment. You said that the reason the shot looks a bit soft is because of the dirty tank. I know if you try cleaning it the turtle will be gone from the position. Maybe next time get a safe shot like you did here, then clean where you will be shooting through and just wait for him to show up on the rock again…you said it’s one of his favorite spots, so I’m sure he would come back soon enough.
You have a strong base of a shot…just a few elements missing that have docked you the points you could have earned on the same subject. Look forward to seeing your next submission.
Just to explain the title/image a bit more, Chaotic Peace referred to the fact that this turtle is not as serene as it appears. Any harsh movement sends him flying for the water. I didn't have to help him down, since this is a position he naturally assumes under the heat lamp. And the blurriness is most definitely caused by the not-so-clean aquarium glass I shot through :)
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