Compost

[Julie Kenward]

My giant hosta has finally realized that winter is on the way. It's leaves have gone from a deep green to the color of an overipe banana. I saw some interesting colors and textures amidst the black decay spots so I played with a couple of images tonight and came up with this.

Canon 40D, EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
f3.2 @ 1/125th, ISO 400
Manual mode, pattern metering, sunny wb
Handheld, natural afternoon light
Processed in ACR & CS4. Large crop, levels, vibrance adjustments, cloned out some small distracting spots.

[Chris Starbuck]

Jules,
What an eye! I think most of us would have just seen a dead hosta, too far gone to be of any interest. You saw this fascinating abstract. Very interesting shapes, patterns, and textures, all well composed. The shallow DOF really holds my attention in the most interesting part of the image.

[denise ippolito]

Julie, I think this is fantastic! I love all the textures and patterns coming together in a very suddle way. Congrats!

[Julie Kenward]

Thanks, ladies. I just keep looking at this leaf and praying, "Please don't let my skin end up looking like this!" Eek!

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Very artistic image. Liked the curved edges running across the diagonal & the smudged colours.

[Ed Vatza]

Hi Jules,

To me this image is all about texture and the texture here is outstanding. Good eye to notice it and good technique to capture it. Well done.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jules, like the nice earthiones and great light, DOF. Very well done.