My Aquarium.

[Azizkadhi]

I took up the challenge and decided to submit my first photo for critique. Let me see what my peers have to hand to me - and then I will go back to the tutorials. At the risk of becoming an academician..... I hope this works!

[Clactonian]

Welcome Aziz and congratulations on your first post.
May I first advise you to post a larger image so that everybody can see it a little better. If you aim for 700 pixels on the longest side it will be about right.
Your exposure is spot on with this image, but it does appear out of focus.
Did your autofocus lock on the glass and not the fish I wonder?
Keep the images coming.

[Azizkadhi]

Welcome Aziz and congratulations on your first post.
May I first advise you to post a larger image so that everybody can see it a little better. If you aim for 700 pixels on the longest side it will be about right.
Your exposure is spot on with this image, but it does appear out of focus.
Did your autofocus lock on the glass and not the fish I wonder?
Keep the images coming.

Thanks Clactonian. I took this photo with the Canon Rebel XT 350D camera; EFS 18-55mm lens, Manual
Settings : Speed 1/15, f5.6, ISO 400. (If that helps) I do not remember whether I was locking on the fish and ignored the aquarium glass nor what effect it may have had on the final result. What about the other elements i.e. Composition etc.?

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Aziz,

The composition looks OK to me - and welcome to the CiC forums from me.

Regarding the softness;
a) if the focus was on the glass, the fish will be out of focus because at f5.6, there won't be enough Depth of Field (DoF)
b) however, with that shutter speed of 1/15s the picture almost certainly has some camera shake - I assume a tripod wasn't used
c) also, there is a double image edge on the fish's eye - so at the very least, the eye swivelled during the exposure, plus the whole fish probably moved a bit.

Hope that helps,

[Jim B.]

Hi Aziz,
Welcome to the forum.
Here's a great tutorial on DoF https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...h-of-field.htm

Towards the bottom of the page is a calculator.It was a great help to me for closeup work.
I think your composition and colours are good.
If you are shooting handheld,get that shutter speed up.
Put some more light on your subject or raise your ISO or do both.

[Azizkadhi]

Hi Aziz,
Welcome to the forum.
Here's a great tutorial on DoF https://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tu...h-of-field.htm

Towards the bottom of the page is a calculator.It was a great help to me for closeup work.
I think your composition and colours are good.
If you are shooting handheld,get that shutter speed up.
Put some more light on your subject or raise your ISO or do both.

Hi Dave; and Jim.
Thanks to both. I have noted your comments and will put into effect your suggestions.
Thanks once more !

[Azizkadhi]

Hi Dave; and Jim.
Thanks to both. I have noted your comments and will put into effect your suggestions.
Thanks once more !

The opinions of both your peers and your mentors are impotant.
Thanks ALL.