i'm loving the colours and detail of the sand and the shell. this is definitely one for me. nothing else to put up or not, i'm glad this one made it up.

Picture postcard stuff.

Hey that's beautiful. I love the colours and the way you can see each grain of sand.

great picture!

The depth of field and the grains of sand are what lift this picture above the ordinary. It is striking that the in-focus/out-of-focus sand coincides with that growth line in the shell, drawing a "horizon" across the picture. That being said, it might have been even more effective if you had cropped a few pixels off the bottom (or adjusted the position of the camera) so that sharp grains of sand started at the border of the picture and extended to that horizon.

Thats a beautiful shot. Love the focusing.

Perfect DoF, but as you said earlier, not that interesting

wonderful picture, i have quite the same shell on the top of my computer here at job.. my little view on something alive..
but mine comes from Lignano Sabbiadoro seashore, in Italy.. I didn't think the same kind of shell could be found in so far places..

first reaction was 'just perfect'. but when i view it for a couple of seconds a sense emerges that the background has been blurred out manually in PS.

It's a great shot of a shell in the sand I suppose. But it's just that.. and doesn't give us much more to look at.

I think the problem here isn't this image - this image is very good. The problem is that your pictures of your kids are a tough act to follow. :-)

I do agree with whoever said above that the background is a bit troublesome... it's not terrible, it just doesn't add much to the image as it perhaps could have.

That said, I like this photo a lot. I think what makes it for me is the colors of the individual grains of sand. The deep red and tan colors make it look like tiny beads of glass. That holds my attention and forces me to give the seashell a longer look than I normally would.

Incidentally, I can't wait til I'm as in control of my camera as you are yours.

you've gotten some constructive criticism here - which is always good - but this is still one of my faves - a personal thing i guess. maybe this shot is less popular because, as tiffany said, it's different to the type of photo you normally post. people come to chromasia expecting a certain type of photo - all the more reason to post something different if that's what you feel like!

i'm a sucker for a macro photo, but there are a couple of things that i specifically like about this one:

-it's simplicity
-that the shell is slightly buried in the sand and not sitting on top of it
-that the dark blue colour of the shell contrasts with the overall golden colour of the sand [at the back] and yet the shell contains the same colours as the sand [noticeable in the focused grains at the front] - probably due to the fact that the sand is made of ground up versions of this shell
-the dof is great and i love the fact that the shell sitting in an island of focus surrounded by blur - i would disagree with harry that sharp grains of sand should start at the border of the picture

more macro shots on chromasia says me!

irresistable, love the grainy look of the sand, the texture and colors, it's just perfect

Thanks everyone.

Harry: I'm with caitriona on this one; i.e. I like the blur in the foreground as it isolates the shell.

Jeremey: I said that I expected that it wouldn't be all that interesting, not that it wasn't interesting ;-)

ale: I think these are reasonably common shells is Britain.

nordilux: no, this is as shot.

I fully believe you, David, but it is very weird
that the plane of focus shifts so abruptly into
blurriness -- it is mildly disturbing, but also
makes it a more interesting image. I also like
the blurred grains of sand in the foreground.

kalinka: I think the shell was on a slight rise in the sand. So the background that you see was slightly further away than the image implies, i.e. theire is more focus loss than you would expect.