a turtle's way of life

[carolupus]

I've been a hobby photographer since quite some years now but more or less kept my work to myself until now. So now I'm really curious if it's actually any good and what things I can improve.
Constructive critics greatly appreciated!

[darkchild]

I like the first and third one of the turtle. Nice macro of the turtle head. the last one is a bit distracting with the glare of the tank. Nice work

[Nike]

Nice!

I like the first one as a portrait, but with the second one you've captured a great moment. There's so much movement and it doesn't only show 2 turtles, but it shows them interacting - I really like that.

Regarding the third one I'm with darkchild - clean the tank first! The eye is resting on the dried waterdrops and reflections before it finds the turtles.

keep shooting

[carolupus]

hey, thanks for the fast feedback!
about the third one: i know, and the dirty glass makes it even worse... is there anything I can do except photoshopping?

I've got two more photos for now:
another macro of Bea's head, without the rest of the body. I didn't like the bright parts of the bamboo ladder and her back in the previous pic so much...
and one photo I don't really know what to think of... I kinda like it, but then again... I'm just not sure. Can someone help, please?

[carolupus]

thanks Nike!
I know, the tank... that's a real problem, because the two are real dirtbags, nothing stays clean for more than a day. but I still like them
only had them for 3 weeks now...

[carolupus]

ok, no new turtle pics but some older photos of animals I found in the wilderness of Upper Austria:

[alicat08]

like the macro of the turtle...LOVE the bird in the water. Great work!

[darkchild]

Love that goose (it is a goose right?) in the water. It's just cropped with more water on the top and the animal looking into that direction that gives the photo some direction for me. Very good capture of the dragonfly. The new photo of your turtles head is good. Very nice detail and color. The second of the tank, I have no clue whats going on aside from the shell.... is that the turtles head at the top? Nice work Keep them coming!

[Grumbledook]

The second macro of the turtle is much better, the first one has blow highlights on the shell, though I would think it might be better with a slightly smaller aperture to get a bit more of the neck in focus

depends how still they pose for you though ;]

[carolupus]

thanks for all the compliments and advice! I really appreciate it as I always found it hard to get feedback

the bird in the water is actually a cocky swan. I got bitten by a goose once as a child, since then I refuse taking pictures of them.
Taking pictures of my turtles is quite difficult actually because they move a lot when they should sit tight and they're totally motionless when they should swim around and do interesting stuff in my opinion, lol. anyway, that's why most of the photos I take of them are blurry.
The picture of the tank was a kind of experiment - longer exposure to capture their movements when they were still checking out their new home. The ghostly thing on top is one of the turtles swimming. I think it turned out interesting, but I'm not really content with it...

Yesterday I got 5 new fish, which are really beautiful in colour so I hope to get some cool new pics soon

[carolupus]

oh, and I didn't kill the pigeon, I just found it like that on the street...

[carolupus]

spying on a peacock's mating ritual ( he almost fell over when the wind was blowing):

[Gentile]

wow...those birds are so beautiful.

[darkchild]

Nice close up of the plummage!

[carolupus]

they are beautiful indeed! although that many feathers are really unpractical... and the lady wasn't even impressed!

[carolupus]

some new aquarium photos:

[carolupus]

I found some dogs today... it's fun to watch people going for walks with their dogs

[Nike]

Originally Posted by carolupus

the bird in the water is actually a cocky swan. I got bitten by a goose once as a child, since then I refuse taking pictures of them.

ouch! But swans can bite, too

I really like the picture with the dead dove for some reason. It's a bit overexposed, though, it would be nicer if you could see more details in the bird's head - I've played around a bit with it in photoshop, hope you don't mind:



I really like the last of the peacock pictures - the close up of the feathers. Beautiful colors.

Regarding the fish - it's damn hard to get good fish fotos, but with a few tricks it works better:
Go as close to the glass as possible. If the lens is touching the glass, that's fine. This way you get rid of the reflections on the glass and of the dirt (like dried waterdrops) on the glass.
If the lens touches the glass it also helps you control shaking hands, which is quite a criterium when you do macros.
Fish that are moving quickly I usually photograph with a flash. The camera intern flash is a pain to work with, however. Often it helps to cover it with a tissue to get some more light, but not too much.
It just needs some practice
Nice fish. I never had Barben in my tanks, but they look really nice.
I had Ancistrus for more ten ten years, however, I had a male that grew to an almost 20 cm monster
I was really sad when this one died.

[carolupus]

yeah, i know, swans are mean creatures, too, but they're more beautiful

mmh yeah, the dove pic... I took about 10 pictures with automatic mode - I wanted to do it quickly because there were people coming and I thought it kinda looks weird to take photos of dead doves - and they all turned out to be overexposed. the one I posted here is already a little photoshopped, but my problem is that I don't want the blood to get so dark. and in the end I just left it like that because somehow I like the contrast between such a sunny day and the end of a creature's life. thanks for your advice though!

and thanks A LOT for your tips about fish photography! that really helped! I found a site with really cool photos (http://www.aquarienfotografie.net/index.php), but most of them are shot with 2 or more flashes placed on top of the tank. and I don't have any external flash...
but I tried to get better pix with some more light from above and the built-in flash. I think they already look a little better, but there's still so much to improve! I need a better equipment (more lenses, flash...). I was afraid the fish would be disturbed by the flash but they don't seem to mind at all, so that's cool.

[purplerose]

Pretty nice photos. Just work a bit more in getting the sharpness.

[carolupus]

some shots of my bf's aquarium... I like all the plants in there - unfortunately I can't have any, or just for a few hours, because the turtles eat everything away in no time...

Corydoras paleatus


male Guppy called Narziss


yay - food! 01


horny Guppy


Epalzeorhynchos bicolor called Rambo


yay - food! 02

[carolupus]

Bea and Amélie got a new sun deck and they seem to be happy about it - this is the first time I caught them together not being underwater.

Bea 01


Bea('s back) 02


Bea 03 (I love her so much )


Bea 04


Amélie 01 (also wants to take a sunbath)


Amélie 02 (says, 'Hello Bea')


Amélie & Bea ('we're making plans, and you're NOT part of it, harhar')


Amélie 03 (goes diving again)

[purplerose]

"yay - food! 02" has a really nice composition.

The new turtle pics are really nice. My faves are "Bea 01," "Bea('s back) 02" and "Bea 04:

In "Bea('s back) 02" I think you should crop out the reflection at the bottom.

[carolupus]

thanks!
all the advice from here really helps a lot!

hm, I really like reflections of all kinds, i think it fits in this picture. besides, i've got about 5 other photos like this one, and they're without the reflection

[carolupus]

found some bugs!

bug 01


bug 02

[darkchild]

Very nice aquarium captures. The second batch was a lot sharper than the first. I love the turtles Especially Bea 01. Very nice framing on that one.

[purplerose]

"bug 02" has a nice play with shadows to create an interesting composition.

"bug 01" may need some play with cropping to cut back on the abundance of empty space.

Very nice exposure on both of them though.

[carolupus]

I took some new pictures of my turtles, but i'm not sure if I should post them here because they're quite brutal... the two little murderers chased a sick fish through the whole aquarium, killed and ate it in the end.
I was quite shocked when I looked at the photos I took on my computer afterwards. while I took them I was mostly excited to be able to take photos of such a rare event, but afterwards I almost felt bad for the little fish - nature can be quite cruel...
so the photos might be shocking for people here, but imo they turned out really well, because I think I managed to take Nike's and purplerose's advice into account this time.
What to do? Do you want to see cruel pictures?

[purplerose]

At the end of the day, it's your thread. Post them if you'd like.

[carolupus]

ok. no one has to look at them after all...
although I'd be glad if you did to tell me which one you like best. or which one could use further or different post-processing.
I won't be able to re-take them anytime soon though, hope that was the only sick fish in my aquarium.

fish chase 01


fish chase 02


fish chase 03


fish chase 04


fish chase 05


fish chase 06


fish chase 07