A few leaves I found at the edge of a trail.
Nothing specific - any suggestions how to make the image better will be appreciated.
1/30, f/14, ISO 1600. Cropped and converted to black and white in On1 Photo Raw, along with dynamic sharpening and vignette filters.
James, this is certainly a great subject for B&W. Wonderful tones, with lines and texture. I find my eyes wondering through the image. A tiny nit would be a couple of pieces of bright objects just at the very right edge that does what to pull the eye a bit, but certainly not a game changer. Images like this make me wonder how many others just passed right by and didn’t even notice. So glad that you noticed and photographed it. I like how the soil around the leaves are framing the leaves so nicely.
Hi Jim,
I see that this is your first topic (image) since your introduction, welcome to NPN, my photographic mindset has grown by interacting with other like minded folks here and I’m sure yours will too. 
As for your fallen leaves image, it’s a little difficult to give feedback on this type of image and that’s because I’m not sure what you’re trying to do.
Are you trying to tell a story?
If it’s a story about the end of fall, then the advice would be to include the whole leaf on the left and it might be better presented in color.
If the story is about the cycle of life (The trees and their interaction with the earth or dirt), then what you have should work well because of the stage of decay they’re in, and it being in B&W.
Rather than going on and on with examples, it would be better if we knew your goal or what you’re trying to convey. Just trying to broaden the interaction with whatever your intent is.
This isn’t the type of image that I am used to dealing with but some are.
Or, are you trying to create an emotional response?
Is your goal just to be artistic?
In other words, tell us a little bit of what made you want to take that shot or, what you hope people will see in the image you just posted, etc.
I hope that helps and we’ll try to help if you can give us a little insight.
P.S., typically, under the technical details, most of us try to include the camera make and model and the lens we used as well as the focal length used so we can help with things like depth of field (DOF), lens working distance (WD), image quality (IQ), processing, etc.
Thank you Shirley.
Merv: thanks for the great advice. Jim
Nice image. I’d try adding a little more contrast and see if the leaves pop just a little bit more.
I love the luminance of the leaves – not always an easy thing to bring out. I love the soft light that cast the shadow of the leaf on the left, and that is it subtly brighter than the one on the right. I think the artistic intent could be enhances by some selective and careful darkening of some of the areas and items toward the peripheries.
Diane: Thanks for your interest and input. Much appreciated!
Regards,
Jim
