Not sure if this is the right category to place this image, but you will probably tell me
A slow stream flows through a set of small lakes, created by the harvest of peat in the past. This summer has been very dry, with consequences for the quality of the water. Usually the stream is clear, but a few weeks in September it was covered with a layer of algae. The stream created ever changing patterns in the algae. I composed several shots, and I like this one because of the decomposing leaf in the water.
Any remarks wrt the image are appreciated: the position of the leaf in the image, the patterns, the processing, the crop.
You may only download this image to demonstrate post-processing techniques.
A very cool abstract, Han. I like all the triangular segments and the leaf is perfect, though I think placing it a bit higher in the frame might fave worked even better, if the stuff lower down fit with the scene. My personal taste for this kind of image is to shoot straight down (or as close to that as possible) and use a small enough aperture to get the whole frame in focus.
Hans, This is a fine look at this algae with the leaf as a nice extra. Has me thinking of plate tectonics on a small scale. One time in 20 years, the conditions were right for the runoff control pond next door to get a thorough coating of algae. It made for some fascinating patterns like the one you’ve got here. (My rough criteria for a macro/close-up post is that it be roughly 30 cm or less on the long axis.
Han: Well seen and nicely composed and captured. I might be inclined to crop some from the right to decrease the amount of relatively featureless green in the URC. >=))>
@Mark_Seaver: the image is probably a bit more than 30 cm on the long axis, but cropping it will bring it a bit closer to that size and places the leaf higher in the frame (@Dennis_Plank).
I agree that it would have been better to shoot straight down and keep everything in focus, but the leaf was way too far from the side of the stream. That’s also the reason that I had to use 300mm instead of a 100mm macro.
I’m not sure yet wheather I like the cropped image better than the whole frame. I think that I should have framed it differently when I shot it.
I think I prefer the cropped image, Han. Sometimes the photos we want just aren’t feasible with the equipment at hand, but you did a very nice job on this one and the leaf was an inspired find-one that most of us would pass up.
