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John, I really enjoyed this post — not just the images, but the breakdown of the experimentation. That’s exactly what these challenges are about.
I love how you’ve used depth of field across all four frames to draw us straight to the fish.
<strong data-start=”249″ data-end=”254″>1 – I can see real potential here. The light penetrating the bottle and that orange glow behind the fish is lovely. If the angle shifted just a touch, it might give more room for the glow and maybe catch both eyes. But honestly, I know how many of these “almost there” moments happen when trying to place a snoot beam.
<strong data-start=”573″ data-end=”578″>2 – Really like this one. Both eyes in, and the light picking up the fluffy growth on the bottle adds great texture. Lighting here a little harsher than my personal taste, but still creates strong result.
<strong data-start=”755″ data-end=”760″>3 – My favourite of the set. Full face, great framing, and the back glow does a beautiful job pulling the subject into focus.
<strong data-start=”886″ data-end=”891″>4 – If the focus was just a touch higher, this one may have been my favourite. I really love that warm amber glow around the opening — almost like a halo.
Also, your Inspector Gadget comment was spot on. I’m guilty of the same thing — bringing too much on a dive and trying to use everything at once. One of the motivations behind these challenges was exactly that: to help us streamline, slow down, and shoot more intentionally.
And I have a Backscatter snoot myself that I still can’t use for the life of me — I’m constantly missing the target — so I’m oddly reassured to know I’m not the only one wrestling with it.
Great work overall, and even better that you’re sharing the process as well as the wins.