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Stuart Frohm
01-08-2009, 08:07 PM
Captured with a Pentax K100D at Dow Gardens in Midland, Michigan.
SMC Pentax DA 18-55 at 55 mm
1/15 f8 ISO 400

Aristotle Georgiou
01-09-2009, 02:33 AM
I like the composition and contrast between the leaves. I'm not the best person for critiques but I would suggest a little more sharpening and brightening the red leaf a touch would make this leaf stand out more.

Cheers,
Ari

Ed Vatza
01-09-2009, 03:53 PM
Like where you were headed here Stuart. The leaf on leaf composition is good. I do wish the bottom darker leaf filled the frame better. The right side seems just a tad messy with what I think is a third leaf filling the space. And I agree with Ari that the image could stand some additional sharpening.

Mike Moats
01-09-2009, 06:51 PM
Hey Stu, I really like this comp. Good positioning of the leaves, and excellent contrast. The light veins in the bottom leaf looks great. I would boost the contrast to make the veins pop even more and as mentioned it needs more sharpening. Well done Stu.

Julie Kenward
01-10-2009, 08:58 AM
Stuart, I have looked at this image a couple of times and, although I like that you can see the tail end of the red leaf I think the edge/corner near it looks a little busy or sloppy. I recropped it, leaving in the curve but not the tail to see if that would give it a cleaner look - see what you think.

I also selected just the red leaf and adjusted the levels and curves and then selected just the green leaf and did the same. I do think it could use more sharpening but was having trouble getting it right on the file but would suggest you try it on your original.

Anyway, love the play on colors and excellent eye in seeing this. Keep those images coming!

Bruce Murden
01-10-2009, 10:36 AM
I like your initial comp, and agree with others it needs some exposure increase for the red leaf especially to be more luminous. Jules' crop gives it a different vision, emphasizing the yin/yang. Good idea for you and it will get better next time.

Stuart Frohm
01-11-2009, 08:20 AM
Thanks very much, everyone, for the general and specific comments and suggestions.

I did very little work on the image in old versions of Photoshop Elements or in iPhoto (my two pieces of software) before I posted it. Your suggestions encourage me to learn about any capability of my software for selective, rather than general, use of both sharpening and other tools on specific areas of an image. I'll buy other software (or upgrade to a more recent version of Elements for the Mac) if necessary.

I hope to make more exposures this week, using higher ISO and an f/stop which will allow greater depth of field.
Most respectfully,
Stu