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Diane Miller
03-16-2015, 10:18 PM
Had another chance to shoot these leaves today, with soft light and no noticeable air movement. Not so easy to get a composition I like as the low limbs of the tree (against a decent BG) are accessible by standing on a 30-degree slope littered with loose leaves and small rocks. And just over a flimsy fence, 5 feet from my position here, is the largest privately-owned collection of rattlesnakes and poison oak this side of Texas. Oh -- and bulls, too. The bulls are good, though -- they help discourage the rattlesnakes -- all the clomping makes it irritatingly difficult to "hear" mice.

Canon 7D2, 100-400II + 1.4X at 348mm, ISO 1600 (cloudy light and in the shade), f/10, 1/160 sec. (Tripod, of course.) I tried some focus stacks but think I missed some pieces -- haven't had time to assemble them in Zerene Stacker yet. But as much as I love hyper-detailed stacks, sometimes I like the soft focus thing, too. I think this is a case for the latter, where the BG goes soft and a few details of the leaf edges stand out. It's finding the right composition that makes it work though -- which I'm still working on.

Minimal processing in LR5, into PS just for a little NR and a very slight darkening with Curves, masked off the stem. Decided to leave the BG as it was.

Anita Bower
03-17-2015, 10:15 AM
I like this. It gives me an idea to pursue when my Maples start to leaf out. The shallow dof emphasizes the yellow tips and the fuzzyness of the leaves. Very nice. What we don't realize is how tiny these leaves are. Lovely.

Diane Miller
03-17-2015, 10:31 AM
Thanks Anita -- maples would be awesome!! Hope you'll post some!

Jonathan Ashton
03-17-2015, 04:11 PM
Diane I think the image is fine without stacking, some images lend themselves to it - others don't (well that's my opinion only!). I think had all the leaves been sharp it would have looked false, after all, when you view a subject like this with the naked eye you cannot see all aspects simultaneously. I like the image the colours and composition are pleasing.
The 100-400 & 1.4 is one heck of a useful combo, I have yet to try mine on close up but I can't wait.

Diane Miller
03-17-2015, 04:23 PM
Dragonflies, anyone??

Jonathan Ashton
03-18-2015, 04:07 AM
Dragonflies, anyone??
May onwards for me.

Steve Maxson
03-23-2015, 10:15 AM
Hi Diane. Love the colors, light, and background. The shallow DOF works well again - though for my taste, I think the image would be even better if the upper portion of the leaf on the left was sharper. :S3:

Diane Miller
03-23-2015, 02:52 PM
Thanks, Steve -- I agree. A tilt-shift macro would come in handy! These leaves are all just plain, regular green leaves now. I didn't try as hard as I might have for focus stacking.

Satish Ranadive
03-26-2015, 07:39 PM
Spectacular image. Beautiful colors.

Regards,
Satish.