A Leaf and It's Shadow

[Julie Kenward]

This image was also taken on my morning walk on Sunday. Although it looks like a leaf on gravel, it's actually sitting on a large patch of duckweed on top of the lake surface. I loved the way the shadows and light were bounding around on the surface as well - this little leaf got it's own private spotlight.

Canon 40D, EF 400mm f/5.6L
F8 @ 1/400th, ISO 400
Manual mode, pattern metering, AWB, handheld, natural light
Processed in ACR & CS4; small crop, levels adjustment, increase in vibrance. Added a touch of blur to the background after running noise reduction on the shadows.

[Ed Vatza]

OK, I think the leaf looks great. Very sharp; excellent detail. I like the shadow inside the leaf. Definitely adds interest. The spotlight surrounding the leaf is wonderful. And I like the duckweed background... except for the white stripe. I know it is a big area but have you tried to clone it out. You would know what's possible much better than me.

P.S. You could take some off the top :eek::D and make it a pano. Crop right under the stripe.

[Dave Mills]

Hi Kules, Nice spotlight effect on the leaf. I find the line of light above the leaf is having a tendancy of dividing the image. If this was mine I would crop the image down to the middle of the bright line and clone out the balance. This will accentuate the beautifully lit leaf...

[Ramesh Adkoli]

Beautifully composed, Julie. Touch of blur you added accentuates the spotlighted leaf. I agree that white stripe does add some distraction to the image. Only if you could do something about it... TFS.

regards,
ramesh

[Harshad Barve]

lovely image with beautiful compo and expo ,Agreed with Dave about cropping
TFS

[Julie Kenward]

Well, I have to say I thought that might be the case. I took another image with the light out of the image but I have to say I prefer this one - I LIKE that the light can be seen skimming across the surface of the water both in the predominant stripe and the lighter more diffused ones behind it. Just goes to show everyone sees things differently.

I do appreciate the additional viewpoints, though. They always help me see outside my original vision.

[Vida van der Walt]

Hi Julie. Love the fall of light and you turned something ordinary into a beautiful image. The light stripe in the bg is not a problem for me and I think in this image it suits the theme of light and shadow.:)

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jules. As you say, we all see things differently. :) I really like the leaf and the way the light is hitting it, but I would agree with the others about the band of light in the middle. In my view, the light band draws my eye away from the really cool portion of the image (i.e., the leaf). :) Maybe if the light band wasn't so bright - more like the lighter areas at the top of the frame - I would like it better. Thanks for pointing out that the leaf is sitting on duckweed - I wouldn't have guessed that initially - looks almost like a carpet.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jules, very artistic image. Great shadow and light, I would have never guessed it was on duckweed, what happened to the green color of the duckweed? I can take or leave the band of light.

[Christopher Miller]

Nice, simple image, Jules. I like the light and composition. I don't mind the band of light, though I might crop off about 2/3 of the top area above the band of light. Just my opinion!