Another minimalist image, but this one from a little different angle. At head height, the background was nice and smooth so I stretched the tripod up and was able to isolate this lone leaf on its tiny twig.
Here’s a slightly different crop with more trunk -
At the time it was a breezy and I tried some manual focus bracketing, but it turns out I didn’t need to which was good because even though the leaf was relatively still at each shutter release, the shots didn’t line up perfectly. Probably Zerene would have been able to handle it, but I didn’t bother.
Specific Feedback Requested
More or less trunk? I’ve already cropped some out, but wonder if it’s too little.
Technical Details
Is this a composite: No
Tripod
Lr for RAW processing which is the usual for snow - up shadows and whites, lower highlights and blacks. Cropped to reduce the amount of trunk and to place the leaf higher in the frame. Worked with the HSL panel to tease apart the golden hues in the leaf. Texture & clarity added, some sharpening. Ps to clone out another small branch that was entirely within the bark of the trunk, but still looked weird.
Very cool, Kris. I think this works quite well. I might take the current frame and slide it to the right a bit to get some more of the trunk (not much), and also get the leaf a bit more off center. Love the high key background.
Lovely. I like the amount of trunk, both vertically and horizontally. You want some height to the trunk, to get the feeling that the leaf is going to fall down someday.
Really an interesting composition. The negative space on the left accentuate the leaf as subject. For me, the tree has so much texture and depth of color that it wants to be at least an equal of the leaf, and I cant put myhead around that story. I tried cropping off 50+ percsnt of the tree, which helped, but my tablet and snapseed did not allow working well to decrease sharpness and contrast of the tree. Try that sort of thing if you want.
Thanks @David_Bostock, @Bonnie_Lampley & @Dick_Knudson - the falling thing is what I was after. So glad you picked up on that Bonnie. The trunk is interesting, but I thought competed too much so I cropped in the field, but left enough to play with. There was a bright spot further down that I clone stamped onto so it wouldn’t be too distracting and put another image in the OP. I’d have to add canvas on the left to get it more off center and have more negative space. Worth doing?
I like the one with more trunk, as it has more room for the leaf overall. The leaf feels smaller in the larger-trunk version, adding to the slight air of melancholy. I don’t think you need more space on the left.
Thanks guys. It’s funny, the second shot was my original crop since I like the texture around the little twig, but then I thought the leaf was too small in the frame. I should have trusted my instincts.
