I was walking with friends where I used to live in the Sierra foothills in California when I found this neat acorn cap. I took it home and photographed it on a black cloth, rearranging some of the leaves.
Any comments are welcome
Canon R5, 100mm macro, f/29, 1/250 sec, iso 200. ring flash. Minor value and vibrance adjustments in PS.
That is a neat acorn cap. I pick up cool stuff, too, but you actually follow through and photograph it, too. I always seem to forget and stuff collects in a little dish until I throw it out. The exposure looks a bit much for it though the leaves look fine. You could try using an object selection tool to bring down the exposure there. Or a color mask might work as well although it will probably pick up the yellow in the leaf stems. I’d play around and see what could be done since the scene is so interesting and the texture could come up nicely in the cap.
What a nice organic still life. The lines and textures of the leaves are appealing. The acorn cap is interesting, but I wonder if the color could be muted just a touch and more of the textures and details brought out. Nice autumn image.
My first thought was “flying snail!” I’m with Kris & Chris on the exposure of the cap; it feels a bit bright. Cool find!
Hi Don, I like this, and the more I look at it the more I like it. 
The cap may be a little bright but then again it could be that it just needs a little more definition in the details?
I added a bit of texture and clarity with a very slight amount of neg. exposure.
The only thing that bothered me was the stem fading away near the edge of the frame, I guess I’m too old fashion, for some reason I like a lead in or a lead out but that’s just me.
I added a stem to the left so it contacts the frame and to me it seems better (Just my old fashion opinion though).
I like the theme a lot, I can easily imagine this printed out and hanging on a wall, especially with a frame made out of wormy chestnut or some old barn wood.
Things like this are often overlooked and never photographed. Glad you took the time to do it and I’m glad you saw this as more than future mulch.
I hope it’s OK that I added the stem.
Well done!
All the best,
Thank you for your comments. I went back and forth with the brightness and color of the acorn cap. Out of the camera it was flat. When I picked it up off the ground, it was a rich gold color but by the time I took it home and photographed it, it was faded. I brought up to value and color which was too bright, lowered it, which was too dull and then brought it up somewhere in between. It looks like it could stand to go down a little now.
Hi Don, just remember that the word critique is just a fancy word opinion, yes, some opinions are professional but it’s still up to you and how you see it.
Photography is so subjective.
I still like it as it is
Carry on!
Al the best,
