Thanksgiving Thistle

[Julie Kenward]

I got out early this morning knowing I had to hit the road for my brother's house by noon. The nearby lake had a bit of frost and some beautiful lighting so I walked the park's perimeter when I found some thistle, nearly spent, ready to call it a day.

Canon 40D, 70-200mm f4L
f4 @ 1/800, ISO 200
Manual mode, pattern metering
Handheld, natural early morning light, sunny wb
Processed in ACR & CS4 with small crop, levels and contrast adjustments and a wee bit of cloning

[Chris Starbuck]

Jules,
I like thistles, and I like (well done) images of flowers gone to seed. This works for me in both those categories. Happy Thanksgiving!

[denise ippolito]

Jules, Really nice thistle shot I like the BG- it's a perfect compliment The head is bent just right! Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family

[Julie Kenward]

Thanks Ladies and happy thanksgiving to you, too! Be sure to check out the Thanksgiving Day turkey thread up in the "Friends and Family" forum.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Julie, nice find! These thistle heads provide lots of interesting details. The morning light is great! Some nits to pick: would have liked a little more DOF (the top 'hairs' seem a little oof), there is a greyish halo around the stem at the bottom (result of cloning?). I think a more contrasting BG would make an even more interesting image.
- Jerry -

[Dave Mills]

Nice image ! I would crop a bit off the bottom in order to make the seed head more dominant

[Julie Kenward]

Jerry, yes there was a really ugly leaf there and I cloned it out. I tried twice to blend the BG to the stem but I think Dmills has my answer...chop the bottom off and be done with it!

Thanks everyone for your help with this one. I still can't get over what beautiful light I caught on Thanksgiving morning!

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jules, a nice interesting subject of textures. I like the tones of color. Good BG.