> Tim Holmes – > > http://people.rit.edu/andpph/gallery/holmes.html > > > > Holmes got it right when he said, "the little creature was so charming I > couldn't help but to snap its picture." > > > > The spiral of the snail's shell is very interesting. The outer portion is > mostly on the left side of the photo and it is slightly overexposed. But > this serves mainly to emphasize the spiral nature of the shell. The "fuzzy" > nature of the snail's "skin" provides an interesting textural element to the > photo. > > The snail's left eye, seen clearly at the end of the left upper tentacle, is > really interesting. It makes the snail seem somewhat more real as a living > animal. The shape of the upper tentacles echoed in the shadowed give > interest to the photograph. Alas, the lower tentacles are difficult to see, > but they are still present. They just do not add to the visual interest of > the picture. > > I kind of wish Holmes' had picked the little guy up and set him on a leaf > (they are herbivores after all) so there was more contrast between the snail > and the background, but the shallow depth of field helps a lot, as does the > slight variation in the browns and the shadow of the snail. But a variation > in color would have been perhaps an optimal differentiation. > thank you very much for your comments - they are most instructive back several years, i read in a John Shaw book his comments about never moving flowers for pictures, and he made the point that a good photographer is also a good naturalist -- I have been privilaged to spend a bit of time in some of our National Parks here in the USA -- most notably Yellowstone, and, as a result, have picked up some of their obsession with not disturbing the animals if at all possible. Combining those 2 facts, i generally dont mess with things in my photographs (i'll move a leaf off a flower or something -- but thats really about it) -- as a result the idea of moving the lil guy to a leaf never crossed my mind -- but if it had -- i probably would have left him alone anyway -- i can definatly see where it would make a stronger photo -- but my bent is to not change things i guess -- im not perfect at enforcing it -- but i do what i can that all said - thanks for the input -- id love to see you comment more -- Tim Holmes W8TAH - Amateur Extra Operator Medina County AEC Skywarn Advanced Storm Spotter Certified Certified Severe Weather Specialist StormNet Chase 9
