Hyperspace Koi

My goal was not realism, rather surrealism. This was an attempt to capture

an 'other worldly' quality of the Koi, as I see them, that I just can't capture on

film (or digitally) when making a sharply focused, well exposed photo. I've

enhanced the image in Photoshop to more strongly convey the impression of

the Koi that I have in my head.

 

Fire away!

I like the fish, I don't like the leaves. The one in the middle is too sharp. If there is only one sharp thing in the picture the eye is drawn to it - especially if its in such a dominant position. The ones at the side are a bit raggy (ie yellow and brown edges). Maybe you could just have some nice green leaves sticking into the picture at the sides for framing, and then the fish in the middle. They look great on the black background. I love the blurring and all that. It works just as you planned!

 

Just my 2 cents...

 

Franl

Thanks Frank -- yes, roughly half the people who've viewed the photo like the lilly pads, the other half say, as you, that they distract. I had to draw the line somewhere as to how far from the original image I wanted to alter the photo, and the context. I tried to soften and stylize the lilly pads so that they would harmoniously blend with the Koi, and I think it works. In any event, I tried to compose the photo into upper left to lower right corner diagonal halves, with fish dominating the lower left, and lilly pads dominating the upper right.