Watching You (Red Maple)

[Warren_Paulson]

I shot this on a walk while trying to grab the last of the Fall colours here before the leaves dropped. There honestly wasn’t much that grabbed my attention, and the evening light was somewhat boring, so I gravitated to this branch of a Red Maple. I liked the feeling of one leaf looking down on another, almost like parent and child. The sweeping branch connecting the two helped that visual. I tried to get the leaves and that branch sharp, while throwing the rest of the image out of focus.

Specific Feedback Requested

When shooting closeups, I struggle with the backgrounds, in that they tend to become empty, wasted space. I played around with the background a lot in this photo, and ended up doing way more post-processing than usual. (All LRc, no PS) Mostly by playing with the contrast on the background, I was able to create an interesting BOCA effect. Lots of cloning duplicated the effect on the top-right quadrant, which had been a distracting blob of yellow. I also eliminated a leaf that didn’t suit the composition.

I’ve attached a smaller version of the original for comparison.

While I like the background, I wonder if it takes away from the main subject. I’m interested as well, in any other comments on the composition.
I would also like to know if the post-processing looks too obvious.

Technical Details

Camera: Canon 7D (APS-c)
Focal Length: 30mm (effectively 50mm)
Exposure: ISO: 100, f5.6, 1/6 second
Processed in Lightroom Classic

[Kris_Smith (Kristen M Smith)]

Nice find! I love these types of scenes, too, but you are so right about the challenges. The background being the hardest to manage. If only trees could walk and pose for us! That said, the recoloring on the background maple is a bit clumsy here. Lightroom can do some of this, but this attempt is goopy and looks put on with a trowel. Photoshop may have done a better job simply because it does things at a pixel level. This needs more brightness and contrast, too. Luminance sliders in the HSL panel are useful for this as is bringing up the mid tones on their own in the Curves Panel.

I probably would have decided to focus on the leaves on the left rather than trying to put both in the frame, although I understand the appeal of the curvy branch. The left group is more isolated and seems to be free of the yellow leaves. You could have done a dance around the leaves with the lens looking for new ways to isolate it and maybe you did. Share other shots if you have them.

[Warren_Paulson]

Thanks for the critique, Kristen. That supports my feelings about the background. I took these photos as well, but they may suffer from the same problem. Still, I’ll play with them in PS and see what happens.