This is an image from the morning of our last day in Blackwater Falls SP in WV. We were shooting in a light rain which helped to saturate the fall colors. While looking for some compositions I came across this solitary maple leaf still hanging on; not quite ready to fall to the rest of the leaf litter on the ground. I shot this at f4.5 to try and throw as much of the BG OOF as I could to place the emphasis on the leaf. I still had to clone out a couple of bright areas which were distracting and tugged at the eye.
As always thanks for taking a moment to leave a thought.
Specific Feedback Requested
All C&C welcome.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Nikon D800, Nikon 80-200 @ 200mm, f 4.5 @ 1/200 sec, ISO 100, CPL, cable release & tripod.
Such a lovely soft photo, Ed. Reminiscing of a fall gone bye. Love the contrast of the horizontal limbs against the vertical lines in the leaf. The lighting is perfect, at least for me, and the OOF background works very well. Nicely seen and executed.
Ed, this is something really different from you. And you made a nice nature story out of this scene. The muted colors perfectly symbolize end of season. The use of shallow DOF and dark background nicely control what is a very difficult environment. A nice small touch that I really appreciate are the highlights from the hanging raindrops, they add a little vitality to the image. The small image looks a bit dark, but when you open it up to full size, the exposure is well done.
My only suggestion would be a bottom crop, enough to get rid of the bright half of the twig in the LRC.
This is a really good image Ed. I wasn’t aware of how good it was until I added a light frame around it. I also tried various comps by cropping and could not improve on the original. The background is fascinating and supports the the leaf and rain drops well. Glad to see you going in this direction as you explore new horizons.
I like this one, Ed. The color of the leaf is very nice, and it is supported by the soft fallen leaves in the background as well as the by the buds. The waterdrops add to the composition.
Many thanks @linda_mellor, @Ed_McGuirk, @Igor_Doncov, @Stephen_Stanton and @Ola_Jovall for taking a moment to leave your thoughts; always appreciated. I am glad everyone enjoyed the image. When I originally spotted the leaf it seemed to be calling out “look at me”.
@Ed_McGuirk and @Igor_Doncov: It is a little bit of a different direction for me, but I seem to enjoy somber scenes a little more these days. Just more reflective I guess. @Ed_McGuirk: I like that one limb which curves downward so here are two different versions; one with the bright area cloned out and the other with a crop. What do you think?
I prefer it uncropped because those dark branches give the image it’s ‘personality’. It’s a light object in the dark. If you reduce the dark you affect your story.
Magical Ed; well seen and captured. To be honest, I’m happy with any of those crops; that’s a good thing if you ever want to print it for a specific placement on a wall.
An option to play with is @Ed_McGuirk’s idea, and go further to dim most of the brighter spots behind the show. That might let the leaf and water drops have even more impact:
