Fractured Sea Shell

ADavis85 · Feb 16, 2012

Saw this broken shell on the beach. I set my tripod up just over the shell, and shot this at 200mm with my "Macro" telephoto. Comments welcomed, I'm sure it's not perfect.

Fractured Shell on the Beach by ACDavis85, on Flickr

Trever1t · Feb 16, 2012

Hi!

It's a fractured shell! Really though, it lacks. I see a shell but that's all. What did you see in the shell?

The shot you posted here is way too small to see so I went to your Flickr and looked closer. The color is off and it lacks contrast, perhaps due to shooting at F16? Why did you select such a small aperture? With a flat subject like this, there's no reason to not shoot at f8 to get the best possible sharpness. Is ISO 80 your native ISO? I would think it would be 100 or 200? So to sum it up, the composition and technique can use some work, try again, perhaps get down to the shell's level and include the length of beach or sea? Use a larger aperture unless you are trying to make the background part of or isolated from the subject.

cgipson1 · Feb 16, 2012

When you are posting from Flickr.. it is really easy to select a larger size than this thumbnail to post here. Please do so, if you want comments... because not all of us will make the effort to go to your Flickr page. If you are just after increased hits on your Flickr page... that is something else all together!

ADavis85 · Feb 16, 2012

Trever1t said:
Hi!

It's a fractured shell! Really though, it lacks. I see a shell but that's all. What did you see in the shell?

The shot you posted here is way too small to see so I went to your Flickr and looked closer. The color is off and it lacks contrast, perhaps due to shooting at F16? Why did you select such a small aperture? With a flat subject like this, there's no reason to not shoot at f8 to get the best possible sharpness. Is ISO 80 your native ISO? I would think it would be 100 or 200? So to sum it up, the composition and technique can use some work, try again, perhaps get down to the shell's level and include the length of beach or sea? Use a larger aperture unless you are trying to make the background part of or isolated from the subject.

Thanks for the comments and critiques. I guess what I saw in the shell was, if you had seen the beach it was quite alone. Which was weird, considering the rest of the beach was littered with shells. Which makes your point about shooting down the beach to lend perspective stronger. As for the ISO and aperture, I was shooting F16 because I had taken some other shots of the beach and it was a very sunny day, and as I was shooting down the beach I wanted to broaden my DoF. The ISO...well, I think I had set it on Lo80 at one time just to compare it to the other extreme; Hi3200. This was just something I saw on the beach as I was walking closer to the water. I should've taken the time to change the settings, but it was impromptu and I forgot.

cgipson1 said:
When you are posting from Flickr.. it is really easy to select a larger size than this thumbnail to post here. Please do so, if you want comments... because not all of us will make the effort to go to your Flickr page. If you are just after increased hits on your Flickr page... that is something else all together!

I'm not sure how it ended up so small. I clicked share, and copied the link. But then again, I'm new to Flickr so I didn't pay attention to that. I admit, I sort of posted this thread quickly because dinner was just about ready. As for Flickr hits...;-) not intentional.

Also, I see the size selection now.

Fractured Shell on the Beach by ACDavis85, on Flickr

Trever1t · Feb 16, 2012

yes, good. The lone shell on a stretch of beach littered with shells would be an interesting concept and worth trying to get. Your ISO was to low and if you had opened your aperture you only need to shorten your exposure time by increasing shutter speed. If you can go back and try again I'd like to see the results

ADavis85 · Feb 16, 2012

Trever1t said:
yes, good. The lone shell on a stretch of beach littered with shells would be an interesting concept and worth trying to get. Your ISO was to low and if you had opened your aperture you only need to shorten your exposure time by increasing shutter speed. If you can go back and try again I'd like to see the results

Thanks Trevor. I wanted to go back to the beach this morning, but it was our last (of two) day in Ocean City, MD and the Wife and I woke up a little later than expected (thanks to JC's Pub

) not to mention the rain.

Anyway, sorry...I would have loved to try again. I'm kicking myself for not having thought of that concept while I was there. :/

cgipson1 · Feb 16, 2012

ADavis85 said:
cgipson1 said:

When you are posting from Flickr.. it is really easy to select a larger size than this thumbnail to post here. Please do so, if you want comments... because not all of us will make the effort to go to your Flickr page. If you are just after increased hits on your Flickr page... that is something else all together!

Click to expand...

I'm not sure how it ended up so small. I clicked share, and copied the link. But then again, I'm new to Flickr so I didn't pay attention to that. I admit, I sort of posted this thread quickly because dinner was just about ready. As for Flickr hits...;-) not intentional.

Also, I see the size selection now.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/68220967@N06/6888641141/
Fractured Shell on the Beach by ACDavis85, on Flickr

Cool! Hope dinner was good!

blackrose89 · Feb 17, 2012

Shooting down lower and level with an object like this makes for a more interesting composition.

Lone feather by blackrose1981, on Flickr Makes the shot look much more intentional and less like "Ohh!! I saw a pretty shell" lol. Getting down lower/level will also better showcase the cracks and brokeness of the shell.