Autumn oak leaves trapped under the ice of an approaching winter.
It was a cold and windy day when I spotted these oak leaves under the ice along the edge of a pond. It seemed the perfect melding of two seasons, the leaves still holding the golden tones of autumn, as the ice overtook the pond.
Feedback Requests
Composition and feel. Overall impressions. Anything is always helpful. Always looking to improve.
Pertinent Technical Details
0.4 Seconds @f 16. ISO 100 70mm.
Edited in Lightroom for color and contrast, sharpened in Photoshop. (I still like the high-pass filter for sharpening.)
Todd, the roughness of the ice gives this a good painterly feeling. I do think the yellow leaf is a bit too bright. I also think that dodging some of the leaves along the bottom would make for a more balanced viewing. Clearly the yellow leaf is the main subject, but those other leave add interest to the rest of the frame.
Gorgeous, and the ice “filter” gives it an interesting rugged look that fits the conditions. There are options to play with balancing the leaves but you are the artist.
If this is a crop, I feel some tension with the bubbles in the lower left and the one on the bottom edge so close to the edge, but I can imagine a reason – same with the one on the right edge. It could be removed, but the ones in the LL are lovely and I wouldn’t suggest removing them. Nice work!!
Lovely image @Todd_Higgins and a fantastic title. I absolutely get the feeling that these are the ghosts of autumn, and beautiful ones at that.
I have to think more about the bubbles. They don’t really bother, at least not until others mentioned them. I think they do send a signal of life under ice though too, and that may either fit the mood or not, depending on your preference.
ML
I like this a lot - it’s a common little scene at certain times of the year and I always stop to look. The colors are rich, but muted. Other than maybe shifting the main leaf off center and cropping the dead leaf on the left out, I don’t know anything else I’d try with this one. Thanks for sharing it.
Thank you all for the input. I really do appreciate it. @Mark_Seaver I did bring the leaf down a bit and brought up the bottom leaves. I think it anchors everything a bit better now. @Diane_Miller This is not a crop. I liked the bubbles as “proof” that the leaves are under the ice, but I darkened them a bit to take some of the attention off them. Below is the rework.
A very nice tweak!! I don’t find the bubbles distracting, was just wishing for a bit more room for them if you had the canvas. And looking again, I don’t mind them being close to the edge as they are a sort of frame effect (even if partial). Or maybe it’s that they lead my eye into the frame from the LL where the visual line flows to the leaves.
