Sycamore and Beech Leaves Frozen in Water

The weather warmed a little and I decided to take a walk to look to things to photo. I was walking along a stream looking at how the ice fractured around rocks when I stumbled on this photo.

As it turned out, this was a challenging photo to take.
…First problem was composition. I couldn’t place my tripod where I wanted. So I framed the best I could with the idea of rotating and cropping in PP. What’s seen has been rotated about 90°
…Next was the reflections. There is a thin layer of water on top of the ice. The water was reflecting the trees and sky form above. The reflections were so bad that you could barely make out the leaves in the photo. I carry a lightweight ground cover I use when laying on the ground. I erected/pitched it over my camera to get a black surface reflected.
…By this time it’s starting to get dark and I’m running out of light. All I owned at the time was a flash and penlight. Neither worked for me and I wound up using ambient light.

We have this one hanging in our kitchen.

Specific Feedback Requested

I’m interested in all feedback but mostly for composition, HSL, etc.

One of the things that bothered me at first was edge of sycamore leaf. The BR edge of the leaf is nice sharp and the rest of the leaf edge is fuzzy. After looking at it, I realized that sharp part isn’t being distorted by ice.

Technical Details

Canon 5D SR | EF100 Macro | f16 | 30.0s | ISO 100 | 100mm
Post Processed using ACR and PS

2 Likes

David, the composition works well for me, but maybe others have a different idea. I think the reason for the upper part of the Sycamore leaf appearing to be less sharp is because it is underneath the ice just a tiny bit, where the bottom part seems to be laying on top. I can see where you might be giving this some wall space in your kitchen! I like that I can see the lines of the Sycamore leaf under the Beech leaf. The darker leaves frame in the brighter ones and keeps the focus on them. Very well done!

Hi David,

I think that your comp works quite well. I would darken the leave stem in the upper right slightly, but the way that it is presented is not a deal breaker. I especially like how the sycamore leaf stands out in the comp. Well done…Jim

Another cool image. Groan.

The varying sharpness due to the ice doesn’t bother me, but the floating stem is an eye-grabber and the lower left corner is also a bit bright and takes attention off the main subject. I could see darkening all the leaves below the surface, really. Great find. I love this kind of thing. Winter, at least before it snows, gives us so many options for ice and things trapped in it.