It's been a while since I posted any photos.
these are from a series I've been working on which I eventually hope to compile into a coffee table type art book.
I'm not sure. They are not so much macro shots as they are more pieces of fish and corals. I guess I've gravitated towards using a part of the animal to focus in on a pattern or shape. I have plenty of shots showing the entire fish, but I find looking at one piece of it to be more interesting. I also don't want it to have an "ID" book look, so I'm trying to stay away from those types of shots.
I have a childrens book that uses pieces of a mural for the illustrations. In the center, there is a big foldout that shows the entire mural. You could do something like that inside the front cover...Also, all the patterns would make a great source book for graphic and textile people.
all the tanks have a black background, I add in some extra Black in lightroom and it darkens the backgrounds. I also play with the curves a bit and contrast.
I use photoshop for removing dust spots now. I like lightroom and the workflow it provides.
by the way I'm shooting in RAW mode which gives you a very flat image to start with. you have to take the RAW file and work it into whatever vision you have for the image, much like we used to work with negatives in the darkroom.