My student want to send his work to contests coming up and I want to ask for your help,pretend you are contest judges,give me your opinion please.
Click on the picture to make it bigger
Wow, you've got some talented students. The first picture I like a lot. Personally, the smooth stones would not be my first choice for this scape, but they're not terrible either. On the left side, there's a stem of something going diagonal, while all of the rest are more/less vertical. I'd trim that one out prior to photographing.
For the second, it looks like the plants need to grow in some more in the foreground. The rocks look good. Again, in the grass behind the rocks has a stray strand going right when the rest go left.
These nit-picky things aside, both of these scapes are very nice, and they should be proud of them.
I actually like the round stones, they are such a contrast to the rest of the scape - without looking unnatural - it immediately captures the eye. I would guess that is the intention.
The first one looks incredible. The only thing I would comment on are those rounded rocks. They're distracting - darker colored rocks might be a better choice.
The 2nd one, the rock and placement is really good. The plants, however, need to fill in quite a bit. Additionally, the substrate in the front is not even. It should be straight to lend the layout a cleaner crisper look.
I'd be set off by the white rocks too, except they are sitting on a white sand bed. Where does white sand come from, white rocks. Makes sense to me. Then again these things are judged by people that don't think about geology or stream geomorphology, they just want a pretty picture.
The other one, the rock furthest to the left should not point up. It has to be flipped over to counter the rock behind it. Too much energy being directed up into the atmosphere, not enough energy into the ground. The mollies are too dark for an airy tank like that, They make a huge contrast to the rest of the tank. A lighter colored molly would work, ember tetras would make a great school in there though maybe a little too small. Red phantom, or lemon tetras would be nice in there.
"したくさ" Sean
Aquascape? I'm a crypt farmer.
If you've got bait, I've got wasabi!
I wish I could be like Mr. Sarcastic when I grow up!