Feeding Time

I like the slightly blurry look. It adds to mess (mass?) of fish with them flopping all around scrambling for the food. I had this strange thought, maybe influenced by your title, of how these babies would taste sautéed in a pan? Nice shot.

It's fine. Swirly and colorful. Not really a "pretty" subject but still a photo that's appealingly designed and has a good sense of contrasting colors. It doesn't seem to be trying to be something it's not, which works in its favor. But it's also not much more than it is, which engages me for a nice visual moment but not much beyond that.

I am a bit lukewarm about the picture. I, too, find it doesn't produce a stream of thoughts into my mind. It's quite interesting in a natural history sort of way, but it's not exactly an aesthetic or intellectual pleasure. I would prefer it to be crisply focused somewhere in the image. I suspect the light levels were low and this is camera shake. If it was to be blurred to suggest movement, which might have been effective, then I think it should be more blurred to work. That's it from me.

I don't get it, it looks like a snap shot of fish. No composition that I can find, my eyes wonder around the frame. The colors are ok I guess, but nothing special. No fine detail to hold interest. But like Fred and Robin said it has no aesthetics at all for me and I like beauty so that might be my problem.

I don't get it. If Joe's intent was to capture a koi feeding frenzy, then I think the image would have been sharper. It could be that he wanted to produce an abstract, relying on the melange of color. Ultimately, the image doesn't do much for me.

The fish are struggling, mouths agape, as they crush each other fighting to get the morsels of food. The blur adds to the frenzy.

I agree with Alan. I don't think sharper would suggest frenzy.

But I also agree with Robin that if the blur were to be expressive, it would have to be a different kind of blur and achieved in a way that would be more energetic and more suggestive of movement as opposed to just lack of focus.

It's got something M.C. Escher-like, the swirling forms that seem to repeat themselves (though they do not, but it's how I register it). It's not a story-telling photo, nor one that leaves me contemplative, but that is OK. Graphically I find it works well, it doesn't need sharpness for that (in fact, I think that would remove a bit the dynamics it has and make it a very static affair). Visually, it appeals to me, and I recognise there may not be much more than that, but it doesn't seem to claim more than that either, so that's fine.

Like the subject matter a lot, makes me think... now where can I find a pool of fish. However the image capture itself is poorly executed. I would have tried a wide range of shutter speeds, using ND filters, and tried a polarizer too. I think there are really interesting and potentially very beautiful images to be had here. Blending sharp detail and blurred layers could be worth a try.
Tony

Generally, I believe that titles that only repeat what's in the image restricts the thoughts and narrows the interpretation room. If I disregard the title, the image opens up for interpretations far beyond what is shown.

The blurriness of the image (looks like soft focus to me) don't bother me as the image stands here (neither do it add anything interesting), but it might not suit a print. This is of course only of hypothetical interest (to me) since the image was not presented on a print.

Best wishes,
Frode Langset

I don't get it. The scene has been shot numerous times by many a photographer, me included, and no special effect of quality seem to be present. Here is another ! Same fish, same blur.

Nice shot Anders. Of course the first has more bluish water that provides richer color contrast plus some splash droplets. It's more alive looking. Also the first was taken directly above so there is similar blur from front to rear. Yours was taken from the front at an angle so the front fish are in focus and the back ones are blurred. Yours is a good shot too; just has a different look.

Thanks Alan, but my point was not that I pretended my photo to be better or worse than the POW. My point was that the

scene and shot is common and shot by innumerable photographers with somewhat equal result. I can give the address

and feeding time of such scenes in Shanghai, Beijing, Hongkong or Seoul, just to name a few. Shooting is free, but fish

food will have be payed !

I'd like a little more sharpness, as in the attached (or in-line) picture.