Spiral

[flashback]

I may have finally figured this upload thing, C&C welcomed if it works

SPIRAL by JJ, on Flickr

[Manfred M]

I'm glad to see that you have figured out how to use Flickr to show your work. I like the approach you have taken.

The subject is well suited for a B&W approach.

I find that having a subject that appears to be "floating in space" without any visible sign of support to be a bit strange. The shell itself seems to be a bit underexposed and I suspect that you have crushed the background to be black.

You are onto a good concept and I think should continue to explore this type of approach.

[flashback]

Thank you Manfred, I did intentionally blacken the background. as for the floating in space, my thought was the shell (and spiral) was the focus in itself, to me a surface on which to lie wasn't necessary. Thanks for looking and commenting
jj

p.s. my other shot of the rest of the whelk is a floater as well

[Manfred M]

Thank you Manfred, I did intentionally blacken the background. as for the floating in space, my thought was the shell (and spiral) was the focus in itself, to me a surface on which to lie wasn't necessary. Thanks for looking and commenting
jj

p.s. my other shot of the rest of the whelk is a floater as well

And my comments on it would be similar to this one. A small reflector (nothing more than a white card) on the camera left side, just out of frame on that one to add a bit of fill light might be worth trying. I tend to use a key / fill light combination on a lot of my portraits and still life work.

[flashback]

I'll experiment, thanks

[Geoff F]

That sort of shot is fine for identification purposes but maybe shooting from more of a side angle would give apparent depth to the subject. But be careful of getting sufficient focus depth as well as Manfred's comments.