Floater

[Mike Fuhr]

Got out yesterday to look for some photo ops. This was one of my favorites -- c and c welcome!

nikon D300
100-300mm F/4
195mm
F5.6 (-.33)
1/80
ISO400

[Julie Kenward]

Nice! I love floating leaves this time of year! You did very well here...nice comp. You might keep in mind that they sometimes look better if you leave the negative space to the side that the leaf appears to be floating (in this case it would be the left.) You did get a ROT's position, though, and that's why I like it.

The leaf looks a bit soft - did you run noise reduction on the BG and that's why the leaf is soft? If so, next time use a mask and mask the leaf off so those pixels stay sharp.

I think I'd clone out the one light spot just beneath the stem...but that's me being picky!

[Ed Vatza]

Nice comp Mike. I must say that at first glance, I really liked the background even though I would consider cloning out the oof underwater leaf in the UL corner. But the more I look at the image, the less natural the water looks. I think it must be something about the stream bottom and the softer look or something. But it doesn't quite look right to me.

[Don Lacy]

Hi Mike, I like the concept of the image and it works as presented but I think an even stronger comp would have been to move the leaf to the upper left corner giving it space to move into the frame.

[Steve Maxson]

I like the simplicity here, Mike. I would agree with Jules about cloning the white spot below the leaf stem as it draws my eye. There are a couple good suggestions about the comp above - IMO, they could all work as alternative presentations. :)

[Mike Fuhr]

The leaf was actually moving from left to right (and back again sometimes), so I chose the lower left just because the eye tends to go from left to right. Plus, I'm not sure that a leaf really has a front or back ;).
Ed, I'm not sure what was on the bottom of the pond -- I think it was standard pond muck. I've thought about darkening the water so the pattern is not so visible. I don't mind the bottom.

[Anita Bower]

I like the colors--orange against blue, and the contrasting textures--smooth against uneven. I agree with the suggestions to crop the light spot and the leaf in ULC. The position of the leaf works for me.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Mike, VG advice given above.....I leaning with Anita on the crop and agree with the spot removal!

[Mike Fuhr]

I removed the white spot and leaf in the ULC, and darkened the water a bit. I like it much better now -- thanks for all the comments.