Autumn leaf

[Jonathan Michael Ashton]

Autumn is approaching fast and a few leaves have fallen. This is about as artistic as it gets for me - well at least so far! As you will see, I am not the most creative or imaginative photographer so I will appreciate all your comments regarding this sort of image. Let me have it both barrels.:)
Canon 20D, Canon 180mm macro, tripod

ISO 100
0.5 sec at f f11

Jon

[Julie Kenward]

It's a good start, Jon. You've got nice texture in the leaf and the tree limb and you have beautiful lighting. You might try to bring up some of the dark areas in the tree to pull out a little more of the texture without ruining the lighting effect you have going here.

Another idea would be to crop a bit differently - get the leaf more to the LRC instead of centered in the image.

[Chris Starbuck]

Jon,
I usually try to avoid a central placement of the subject unless the subject itself is highly symmetrical, in which case a central placement emphasizes the symmetry. Here I don't think it really bothers me that the leaf is centered, I think because the lighting is rather asymmetrical. On the other hand, after trying Jules' suggested crop, I agree that would make a stronger composition, and also eliminate some of the distracting light spots at lower right. I second Jules' other comments too -- a really nice start with beautiful lighting and textures. Be very careful when lightening the darker areas though, the dramatic spot-lighting you have on the leaf is one of the biggest attractions of this image, and you need to maintain overall contrast to keep that effect. I would also suggest burning (darkening) or just cloning out all those little bright specs.

Chris

[Robert O'Toole]

Hi Jon,

Normally I really avoid and dislike dappled lighting, but i like this spot light effect! Other than clean up all the little bits of dirt on the wood I would darken the bright parts of the leaf. Other than that I like it as is.

Robert

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jon, nice textures and lighting. I've shot wood like this and have had the same little white specs. I go through and clone out everyone of them and it makes a big difference in the quality of the image.

[Jonathan Michael Ashton]

Thanks very much everyone, I really appreciate your comments and advice
Jon