Berries

[Julie Kenward]

While out taking bird portraits this morning I came across a tree with no leaves but plenty of berries. The light was beautiful so I snapped a few and came up with this one. I lightened the BG with a screen mode layer and added a soft white vignette around the edges in pp.

Canon 40D, EF 400mm f/5.6L
f5.6 @ 1/250th, ISO 400
Manual mode, pattern metering, handheld, natural light
Processed in ACR & CS4; small crop.

[Danny J Brown]

I like it Julie - very artistic. It reminds me of a painting in an Italian Villa, not that I've ever been to Italy or in a Villa, but I've seen a lot of movies. I usually enjoy diagonal compositions of this sort. I'm ashamed to say I don't know the tree because I see these little mini-pumpkin shaped berries a lot around our place. Maybe Denise will know.

[Charles Wesley]

Jules,

This is very nice imagery. Like the artistic feel.
Thanks for sharing....
____________________
Charlie Wesley
St. Augustine Beach, FL

[Anita Bower]

Gorgeous! I just love the overall tone, look and feel of this image. The lightness of it works well. The BG matching the berries is perfect. The angled branch just right. The white vignette adds to the overall effect. Excellent.

[Mike Fuhr]

Very nice feel and the colors are wonderful. By the way, I think this is poison ivy!!

[Julie Kenward]

Mike, you know...that could very well be! I remember seeing poison ivy around the trees in this park and that might be why the leaves are gone and the berries are still there. Whew...glad I shot the image with the 400mm!

Man, I must be getting good if I can make poison ivy look pretty. LOL!!! :D;):D

[Danny J Brown]

Mike, you know...that could very well be! I remember seeing poison ivy around the trees in this park and that might be why the leaves are gone and the berries are still there. Whew...glad I shot the image with the 400mm!

Man, I must be getting good if I can make poison ivy look pretty. LOL!!! :D;):D

I guess that explains why I see them everywhere around my place. I bet the birds don't eat them either!

[Julie Kenward]

I bet you do have it all over your area as well, Danny...Missouri seems to be thick with the stuff!

[Mike Fuhr]

I bet you do have it all over your area as well, Danny...Missouri seems to be thick with the stuff!

We are thick with poison ivy here too! And I'm getting more sensitive to it every year.:(

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Julie, nice composition and I like the BG which looks almost painted. Usually I'm not a fan of artistic framing, but in this case I think it strengthens the BG.

[Desmond Chan]

A good looking image ! Like the background and the vignetting you've done to it.

[Julie Kenward]

Thanks, Jerry, I thought so too. I only use vignetting on rare occasions but this time it seemed to call for it to echo the whiteness of the berries.

[Ed Vatza]

The background is so soft and creamy. I almost can't take my eyes off it and focus on the berries! :)

[Vida van der Walt]

Beautiful image Julie. Love the soft colours, great comp and bg.:)