Leaves

[Anita Bower]

I think these are young Silver Maple leaves, which explains the color.

I brought out the details by making a B & W version and placing it on the color version twice at Soft Light blend mode. Curves, Levels, Selective darken and lighten.

Olympus EM5MarkII, 60mm macro lens, f18, ISO 200, 0.6 sec., tripod, indoors, natural light.

[John Robinson]

Interesting technique Anita, and its worked well indeed. Like the sqare crop too. Nice one
John

[Adhika Lie]

Very interesting shot, Anita, and I quite like it. How did you get the white background on this one? The exposure and tonality looks really nice.

[Anita Bower]

Thank you John and Adhika. I put the leaves on a white foam board or white paper and aimed my camera straight down.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Very nice Anita! Your technique really brought out the structures in the leaves. I see you finally made the jump to mirrorless! How's that combo working for you?

[Anita Bower]

Thanks, Jerry. I switched to mirrorless when my Nikon D300 quit focusing. So far I'm happy with smaller, lighter camera.

[Hazel Grant]

Learned so much! 1- technique w bw layers. 2-technique with white board 3- more about mirrorless (I've been thinking about it lately)

[Anita Bower]

Learned so much! 1- technique w bw layers. 2-technique with white board 3- more about mirrorless (I've been thinking about it lately)
I appreciate these forums for the learning!!

[Nancy Bell]

Love the emphasis of this image on the beauty of the color, shapes and details of the leaves, with the all white bkgd. I agree with Hazel about the learning part! I have also shed some camera weight as I do not want to carry so much around anymore.

[Anita Bower]

Love the emphasis of this image on the beauty of the color, shapes and details of the leaves, with the all white bkgd. I agree with Hazel about the learning part! I have also shed some camera weight as I do not want to carry so much around anymore.
Thanks! Here is to light-weight gear. :5

[Diane Miller]

Gorgeous leaves well composed! I love that you didn't get shadows. Good technique for punching up contrast. There are so many, it's wonderful to have access to them.

[Anita Bower]

Now that I think about it more, perhaps I held up the leaves with a plamp and photographed them against a white bg that was about 1 foot away. Hence, no shadows.

[Allen Sparks]

Hi Anita,
Love the textures and colors here. High Key effect works well too.
Allen

[Jonathan Ashton]

Very nice indeed I really like the detail and composition, the white background is "ok" I am sure you could brush in some greens/yellows to make it a little more natural looking - WDYT? (Purely a personal viewpoint!)

[Anita Bower]

Very nice indeed I really like the detail and composition, the white background is "ok" I am sure you could brush in some greens/yellows to make it a little more natural looking - WDYT? (Purely a personal viewpoint!)
I'm replying to your excellent suggestion, a bit late. My approach doesn't make it look more natural, but it eliminates the white bg.