Basswood trees have the best leaves. They bow and twist after they’re shed and make the most sinuous and undulating shapes. Tiny landscapes like this intrigue me, but damn are they hard to shoot. This is one of about 1/2 dozen tries and the only one worth a damn. More to come though since I know I can fix what I screwed up with the others. Luckily I have several basswood trees in the yard including a couple of huge ones although the smaller ones make the biggest leaves, like most trees.
Specific Feedback Requested
Any ideas for improvement welcome.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Tripod in the driveway - leaves are great subjects because they’re so portable!
Used 13 out of 21 images taken for a stack in Zerene. Processed in Lr for basics and a crop. PMax image back into Lr and further processed to bring back color and tonal range lost in the stacking process. Did some dodging and burning to enhance those lovely shadows. Played with color sliders as well to stretch hue sliders a bit.
Nice color and excellent detail. I am finding the OOF area in the upper right to be a major issue for the image for me. It pulls my eye like a super magnet, with everything else sharp.
Really nice composition and nice work on the stacking, Kris. I think the hole makes this shot. I agree with Harley that they upper right corner is a bit distracting. I don’t think cropping would hurt the image at all.
Kris, I am sorry it has taken me so long to get to this one. Either I was busy as a beaver, or when I got a chance to check out NPN, most of the photos wouldn’t show up. Even the avatars! I wonder if anyone else is having problems??? Anyway, I had a moment and checked and was able to see most photos, and was able to enlarge this one.
I love the lines and texture in this leaf, and that hole is a really nice addition, and placed well in the composition. I agree with @Harley_Goldman and @David_Bostock about the oof in the URC. Otherwise, a very nice image.
I like this one a lot! The colors, texture and the shadows are great, and the hole is the icing on the cake. If you make a new try, the only thing that could be improved is to make the blurred part in the URC sharp.
Thanks for the unanimous vote for more depth. That’s what threw off all the others I tried. Lots of deletes I tell you. Tried to do more today, but the light is wrong and it’s too windy. So I’ll keep an eye out for better conditions. I think I need to do a couple of things - use a smaller aperture since I’m not going to leave anything OOF and take more photos to be sure it’s in focus front to back.
A very nice subject and composition. If you can get the tripod steady why not do a focus stack? Sounds like these leaves are worth spending some time with.
Kris: I know I’m piling on regarding the URC OOF area but otherwise this is a terrific shot. The placement of the hole in the frame is excellent. Well done. >=))>
