Critique Style Requested: Standard
The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
On a lovely late fall day, I spent quite a bit of time photographing leaves floating on a shallow pond, set off nicely by reflections rippled by a modest breeze. For this one, I was close enough that it qualifies as a close-up.
R5, 100-500 @ 500, 1/125 s, f/13, iso 800, tripod, 75% FF
Sweet image,Mark. I really like the ripples in the water and the reflections of the leaf are awesome. I tried a horizontal flip to get the ripple that intersects the leaf to go up and right. What do you think?
Wonderful intimate shot Mark - the whole image is a celebration of curved repeated shapes. Simple composition with effective impact. Nice complimentary color management too. I like it as presented, not the horizontal flip.
Oh Mark, I really like this. Gold on blue, and those curves and shapes. A feast to the eyes.
Just gorgeous! The dark reflection of the leaf is super.
A wonderful way to spend a nice fall day, and a deserved reward for it. I love the crispness of the leaf and the abstract look of the water. The colors are gorgeous. I do like @Dennis_Plank’s flip – my eye comes in from the LL and sweeps up.
Very nice shot and the only thing that I wish for is to have a little more DOF to get the entire leaf tack sharp. The flipped image looks good too, but I’ll go with the original. Well done…Jim
Mark: What a great color combo and a wonderful subject. I especially like the treatment of the water. The flipping interests me as the way we view things is cultural. Here in the west we read left to right and our eyes just seem to learn to move more efficiently in that direction. A really nice little scene and a fine capture. >=))>
Mark, this is simply lovely. There may be two camps here about flipping the image or not, both can work. The traditional way we enter a frame is UL and read left to right, and downwards, like a book page; The way you composed it. It feels fine and natural. By flipping it, we are ‘forced’ to enter from LL and that can be more stimulating to the brain/mind’s eye. It’s up to you to decide which way you like it best. The color contrast of warm/cool hues is wonderful here! well done.
@brenda_tharp, thanks for the info on the psychology of vision aspect. I felt in looking at the flipped version that there was more tension (when I was attracted to the peaceful, restful feeling), but didn’t understand why.
I keep getting drawn back to this image. The colors and the curves. Interestingly, I think of this as more calming, but if there wasn’t a breeze, you would not have gotten the nice pattern in the water. To me, the flipped image looks off balance. But as Bill says, that might be a cultural thing. Something interesting to think about. Glad you got to spend so much time with the leaves.
@Mark_Seaver not sure how I missed this one originally. Overall, it’s been a tough year for our family and it slipped by me when first posted. A wonderful contrast here between the the two objects of the leaf & water in both color and the yellow dry leaf and obviously the wet blue water…CONGRATULATIONS on the 2023 EP selection…TWO THUMBS UP . 
I missed this when chosen, so I’m glad to see it here. Congratulations on a wonderful image Mark!
