Fall Leaves

[Julie Kenward]

Yesterday was absolutely gorgeous here in Kansas City. The temps were close to 60 and the light was washed in the colors of fall. I started off with a one mile hike through a state park and then went to two other nearby parks - collecting beautiful fall foliage photos (say that three times fast!) everywhere I went.

Here's the first leaf image from yesterday's journey. I created it at the last park with a yellow maple directly behind the leaves in the image and the sun directly behind the yellow maple, creating that wash of yellow color as a BG.

Canon 40D, EF 70-200mm f/4L
f4 @ 1/640th, ISO 400
Manual mode, pattern metering, handheld, no flash
Processed in ACR & CS4; levels and contrast adjustments, desaturated the yellows a bit in ACR & then added a screen layer in CS4 to boost the lightness of the color, no crop.

[Christopher Miller]

Beautiful colors, Jules! Love the yellow BG. Very nice composition, though I do find the OOF leaf to the left of the main leaf a little distracting.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Jules, I like the comp here, and really like the nice warm look of the color. I think it would also work well without the leaves on the right side of the frame.

[Jackie Schuknecht]

Beautiful colours and what a glow from the yellow Julie, put a frame around it and it would make a lovely print.

[Julie Kenward]

Mike I went back and forth on the leaves on the right side and finally decided they added a nice frame to that corner. If printed, I would probably consider taking them out.

Thanks Chris and Jackie for your comments!

[Anita Bower]

Jules: Love the GLOW of this. It captures the feel of fall around here in Pennsylvania--glowing yellows. I wish the left part of the focal leaf showed, and that it was positioned either a bit lower or a bit higher in the frame. I've debated about the leaves on the right, and decided I like them--as you say, they provide a frame. A lovely capture of fall!!!

[Ed Vatza]

I guess I am a minority of one here but something isn't quite clicking for me. That single "subject" leaf would work perfectly for me against that yellow background without the other leaves to the left and right. As a portrait if you will. And the subject with the leaves on the left would, I think, work against some different background. But when I put the three together, I am having problems. Probably just me.