Canon 5D Mark II, 135mm F/2, f/5, 1/60, iso 320
I was looking through some of my koi shots in Lightroom this morn. I was on the hunt for a composition where the fish made a circle. Not having much luck. Then I came to this shot, and although it wasn't what I was looking for, the grouping of tails caught my eye. I tried a couple of crops to come up with this one.
At first I was including the heads of most of the fish. But the more I tried things, I realized in order to focus on the lovely tails, I didn't need the heads. I liked that just one fish is shown whole here. I then desaturated the fishes colors so we would focus on the shapes themselves. I really went back and forth on having the background light or dark, finally settling on the dark because (once again) the shapes of the tails are accentuated.
I left the large and dark space to the right in the crop on purpose, I'm a fan of "negative space." And there is just a hint of one more tail coming up from the bottom of the frame.
This is a good example of "picture within picture" that photographers should be mindful of when reviewing their shots. I don't delete that many of the images I take. You never know when you'll come back to a shot and find a new way of looking at it.
I don't often post the original image to go along with the processed one, but in this case it is instructive, so it's available on the Continue link, and also there is a place to leave a comment if you like this one. Or don't like it! All comments are welcome.
SOOC Image (my crop is from middle right)
