Singular Sensation

[Julie Kenward]

I love to find an isolated leaf along a path or parking lot this time of year. I'm always on the lookout for one that is clean, still in good shape, with good lines and strong color. I ran across this one on a trail around a nearby lake last week. I had the 70-200mm lens on so I used that to take the image. (I could also have used the 100mm macro lens in my bag but this worked as well.)

Canon 40D, 70-200mm f/4L
f6.3 @ 1/60th, ISO 400
Manual mode, pattern metering, AWB
Natural light with fill flash (it was on a shaded area of the path)
Processed in ACR & CS4; small crop, sharpening, levels and vibrance adjustment

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Jules,
Love the leaf...great texture and shape.......not fond of the BG......you have to pick up a piece of bark and on one of your hikes and carry it with you!....yes cliche but it would make the leaf more of a star!

[Julie Kenward]

I've done some like that, Roman. Some with bark...some with gravel...some with a tree stump. I still like the texture of this BG though. I'm an oddball, though!

[Harshad Barve]

except BG everything is picture perfect here
TFS

[Nick Palmieri]

Agree with above comments regarding BG. Nice detail in the leaf.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Julie, nice find! I like the colors the BG provides, they fit the leaf nicely. I would prefer a more natural texture though. The details on this leaf are amazing! An extreme closeup would also have been nice.
Wonderful use of flash, btw. I wouldn't have guessed if you hadn't told me.
Kind regards,

Jerry.

[Julie Kenward]

Okay, so everyone hates the BG except me! Duly noted...:cool::D:cool:

Jerry, I have to say I was surprised when I reviewed the image and saw that I used flash here as well. It sure doesn't look like it. Then I remembered how dark the path was and remembered it just wasn't going to fly without it.

[Stuart Frohm]

I don't hate the background.

The contrasting colors are pleasing.

You beautifully captured what you saw, and I am fond of documentary nature photography that's artistic.

Unless a photographer intentionally deceives viewers by creating or manipulating a scene and saying or writing that it was photographed as it was found, I don't object. (I'm sure I've enjoyed many photos which were not accompanied by an explanation.)

[Anita Bower]

You did a great job of getting the leaf sharp at f6.3. Beautiful Sycamore leaf--colors, lines, texture. I like the contrast with the gray pavement.