The First Fall Leaf

[Julie Kenward]

It's only just begun here in the middle of the country but autumn is definitely on its way. I've been collecting and pressing some interesting leaves that I've found while out on my walks and used one of them to make this image.

I have limited photographic equipment so I tend to improvise - here I took a clamp from the workbench in my basement and clamped it on to my outdoor table. I then taped an adjustable pair of pliers to the clamp and used that to hold my leaf up in the air. With my macro lens on, I leaned back in one of my chairs and shot up through the morning light to achieve this "see through" look. (The BG is the eight hundred or so trees that reside in my backyard.) ;)

Canon 40D, EF 100mm f/2.8
F3.2 @ 1/100th, ISO 200
Pattern metering, handheld, no flash on this mage (although I did use it on several others).
Processed in ACR & CS4; crop, saturation, levels, high pass filter, and sharpening.

[Connie Mier]

A very interesting leaf, I love the patterns and the composition is very nice. I'm on my laptop running on battery so I can't really comment on the lighting, but I would like to see one of your flashed shots. This is a really cool experiment you are doing, quite artistic and genuine!

[Dave Leroy]

Nicely done Julie. Great bg for the shot and leaf really stands out well. Nice and sharp with lots of detail. Leaf is nicely lit up. Leaf certainly looks like it has had a busy summer. Dave

[Desmond Chan]

Good idea, Julie ! Fine light and beautiful colors, especially the background ! Like the leaf you've picked. But I wonder if more DOF would be better or the leaf has moved a bit...because it seems like the leaf could look sharper. It could just be my monitor though.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jules, agree with the others on all counts. Well done.

[Harshad Barve]

nice compo, lovely light & killer BG , Beautiful colors
TFS

[Julie Kenward]

Desmond, I did go wide open on the aperture because I wanted the BG so diffused but I had to downsize the image quite a bit to get it to fit on BPN. The original actually is much sharper than this jpeg version. I did try a few at f4 but felt the loss of BG bokeh didn't really make up for the small amount of sharpness I gained.

[Ed Vatza]

here I took a clamp from the workbench in my basement and clamped it on to my outdoor table. I then taped an adjustable pair of pliers to the clamp and used that to hold my leaf up in the air. With my macro lens on, I leaned back in one of my chairs

I think I saw that set up available in the B&H catalog for $695.:D

Good improv, Jules. A lot has aleady been addressed. I like thhe square crop but feel I would still like to have seen the camera rotated so that the leaf comes in on an angle. I'd also like to see something done with the whitish spot located right center.

[Vida van der Walt]

I'm so glad our winter is past and it is spring here. I love the worn look of this leaf and the colours both in the leaf and bg are wonderful. Agree with the slight loss of sharpness but it is not major and I can understand why you went with the f3.2.:)

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Julie, creative thinking here! Although the backlight gives some nice details, I'm not too fond how the light worked out on the whole image. I'm curious to your flashed versions!
Great thinking with the setup. A suggestion for an alternative: glue two clothing pegs together so that they open to opposite sites. You can then use one side to firmly attach it to something steady (your tripod for instance, or a stick driven into the ground) and the other to hold the leaf. You can also use it to steady plants on a windy day. I carry one around in my photobag wherever I go.
- Jerry -

[Anita Bower]

An unusual leaf to photograph! It works. I like it as is. Your set up sounds excellent! Would love to see more of that lovely bokeh center far right in other parts of the image.