Shark, Kuramathi Island Maldives, Multi Award Winning Photograph

Too small-the only bad in this photo.

you have been able to turn wildlife photography into beautiful art. i wish i had this hanging on my wall at home. so many elements come together, the shark the fish the sand the sun rays, all combined to create a magical image. RESPECT.

Update Oct 2004: "Respect" wins Honorable Mentions at the Lucie Awards in New York

+ + +

awesome

Excellent!

nice

The photograph ended up by mistake in the Franz Polynesia section. I have to admit though, that you see similar things and the same species in Bora Bora waters. In fact I did even snorkel with black tip reef sharks off Bora Bora.

Anyhow this photo was taken on Kuramathi Island in the Maldives. Apologies for my error.

POW should - should

This image has been selected for discussion. It is not necessarily the "best" picture the Elves have seen this week, nor is it a contest. It is simply an image that the Elves found interesting and worthy of discussion. Discussion of photo.net policy, including the choice of Photograph of the Week should not take place here, but in the Site Feedback forum.

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Thank you and enjoy!

WOWOWOWOWOOWOWOWOWOWOWOW! Hard work and patience once again pay off with a really great shot. I am interested to see what people think of the color here. IMO, it's absolutely perfect but it is not, as the photographer notes above, a strictly natural color. It's the natural color of everything if the water were not present, but not the scene as it appeared to the photographer. Now, i think that this is a superior approach and I absolutely LOVE the color here, but I'm curious what you purists out there think of this. In a way, it's more natural than nature.

 

As for the rest, what can one say? Beautiful composition, detail and clarity. This is an amazing photograph.

 

Congrats on a truly well-deserved POW. I love how large Photonet is that I can still find such great portfolios that I have never seen before.

OK, so I have been looking at this for a bit now and have been trying to come up with how

to say this, since I think it might be a first here, but this image does absolutely nothing for

me. The natural event just isn't enough for me to carry this image. I feel this is very static

and, at the same time a bit busy. Not busy because of the little fish, but because of the

white highlights of the water riffle refraction.

 

The shark in the middle stops me dead. The fish, buried in this gray pallor just become a

frame instead of an active element. I just find the overall color very unappealing on top of

it just being a lackluster photographic composition. Maybe when I get caught up on the

hour I lost over the weekend I will be able to see what everyone else does, until then, sorry

to be so harsh.

Amazing photo!

I'm curious to know how this is done. Is it just a matter of having an underwater housing for your camera, and then snorkeling and shooting downward?

Love it.

 

The respectfully stated - though disparaging - comment above critiquing the composition as "static" and implying that the shark is too central in the frame screams of a textbook mindset being inappropriately applied. In my opinion, this is among the BEST compositions I have ever seen - precisley because it does bend the "rules" with respect to composition. A standard, and more boring, presentation would place the shark at the left third of the frame with the swirling fish occupying the right two thirds of the frame. Such a presentation is likely what I would have gone for if I were ever in a position to attempt such a shot. But the finished product would have been weaker as a result.

 

This photo has a compositionally dynamic balance (or "imbalance" dpending upon your frame of reference) to it, and I laud the photographer for the presentation.

Follow ups:

 

1) Portfolios are fantastic; and

 

2) Please explain the set-up for this photo... in other words, how did you manage to obtain the aerial view looking straight down?

I tend to agree with Mona. I'm convinced by now that it is a photo that can win competitions and also be sold to magazines, but that does not make it into a photo that is worthwhile our weeklong attention or worth a long discussion.

 

With all respect and admiration for the work of Felix who is indeed a great photographer (forget about a single sharks ? go and see his portraits).

 

Anders

Felix, I've gazed at your photograph for some time, now, and I've read the few comments above, and find them a bit contrary. I disagree with several of them. I absolutely love the photograph, not so much as art, but as a documentary photograph, artfully done. I enjoyed examining it closely and seeing the small fish frantically turning to excape the shark. Their smooth curving frame is interesting and sets off the photo nicely. I like the color whether it's natural or not. I know we'll be getting lots of comments on color, but you get my vote for very attractive hues. I hope you will give us more information on the details of how it was photographed. A great photograph and worthy of POW -- Congratulations.

In spite of what Nick says, there isn't any way that this can be percieved as a dynamic

composition. The main flaw is the too horizontal ( to picture frame} position of the shark. A

diagonal twist would bring some life. Also, the shark being slightly to the right of center,

could have worked if it was commiting to an action . Instead it is lifeless to the swirll of fish

around it. But even the smaller fish do not seem as a feverishly swirling mass. The scene

lacks drama (which must have been present). I do feel the above view pulling me, but it just

feels like a giant toilet flush. Regrets, Hips

Amazing, I love this shot, every aspect of it, the message it sends out, the timing, sharpness, detail, you name it, it's got it. Congratulations!

I have to agree with Mona. This one doesn't grab me, and I think that is because of the fairly static composition. Maybe also because of the colors. But please don't blame my perception on any sort of rigid application of textbook rules. Forget the rules, the photograph itself simply fails to grab me emotionally, and fails to convey to me the true drama I imagine was there.

 

As to the colors, the color shift Felix has chosen downplays the motion and feel of the water, but retains and emphasizes sunlight reflections that seem to me of secondary importance, and fairly distracting, in the drama. Of course the detail is nice, and if the whole thing were larger it might be easier to appreciate it even more.

 

But, for those of you whom it strikes and grabs, please let me know why. I'd love to say when the week is over that I'm wrong, and am missing something here on the first viewing.

I agree with the static comment. The composition doesn't have any recognizable form/shape to it. I would prefer to see some motion amongst the smaller fish to show that there is some fear, or

"respect". There doesn't seem to be any imminent danger. There's no tail blur--no sense of speed. The crowd feels very detached from the shark.

 

I actually like the reflections on the bottom and wish they were more prominent in the midst of the smaller fish. They have potential for creating something dynamic, but unfortunately, even they don't add to the effectiveness of the scene. Things just don't fit together. It's a solid documentary shot, but I don't feel excited by it.

Oh, and a white frame would improve the presentation by pulling the viewer outward toward the edges of the frame, through the crowd of fish. Somehow, it makes it easier to recognize their individual shapes.

It was observed that the composition would be better if the shark were on a "diagonal". Ok, I'll grant that such an ocurrence would marginally improve the composition. But heck, why not go one step further and ask the shark to arrange itself in a reverse 'S' curve (c'mon shark, can't you cooperate and turn your head just a little to the left?). That would make the composition that much better yet again... right?

 

It would be worthwhile remembering that this isn't a studio portrait where you can ask a model to position him/herself 'just so'; or a painting where you can create any composition your heart desires. It's nature, and Felix has presented this slice of nature in a very well-considered, beautiful, and (I would say) dramatic fashion.

Actually, I will add this concession...

 

... I believe the composition would be better if the shark were placed at the absolute dead centre of the photograph. As it stands now, the shark is positioned ever so slightly towards the bottom. This leads to a question of the photographer: is this full frame? if not, would it be possible to see the complete image to see whether a dead centre composition adds or detracts (by introducing undesirable elements) from the image?

I would certainly agree that, in a situation like this, one cannot direct the action, however,

that doesn't make what we end up with good by default. Sometimes we just get the shot

we get, and sometimes it just isn't what it might have been.

 

I do have to agree with one comment made here that, and I think it is what makes me feel

this is so static, there is no connection made between the shark and the smaller fish.

There is no "moment" happening here. I was fortunate to watch a shark come in with a

school of fish behind it from the top of an oil rig-view much like this but deeper water.

There was a moment where the shark turned and the fish dispersed-it wasn't long but it

was incredible for that split second, but that isn't what has been captured here.

 

Also, on pondering what else was bothering me here, I realized it is also the lack of depth

by what I referred to earlier as the gray pallor-I feel this is somewhat greenish and green

does tend to decrease depth. Reading through the original comments, before this was a

POW, I read that the color was shifted to make the shark appear as it would out of the

water, thus changing the color of everything else. This made me decide to see what a

color shift might do to the lack of depth and definition of the smaller fish. I am going to

post my result not as a better version, but only for comparison as to the sense of depth.