Fern Patterns

[Dave Woeller]

I was fascinated by the patterns made by these ferns. They remind me of the cape area of a songbird, or the breast area of a duck. Adjustments to curves, saturation, and clarity in LR.
Canon 50D, 24-105 mm lens @ 97 mm, 1/30 sec @ F/8, Pattern mettering, ISO 200, 0 EV

[Julie Kenward]

I'm going with the breast of a duck, Dave! I very much like what you've done here. The play of light through the image and the different shades of green really make this simple pattern stand out. Only thing I see that I can offer as a suggestion for improvement would be the LLC - maybe a bit of detail brought out down there so it wasn't quite so dark would be a nice way to finish off the bottom of the image.

[Mike Fuhr]

Very interesting photo -- I like it. I might try cropping some off the bottom to remove some of the dark areas where there aren't as many palm leaves.

[Dave Woeller]

Thank you Julie and Mike. I'll try to bring up some more detail in that LLC. Thanks for your thoughts.

[Allen Sparks]

Cool shot. I like the patterns too. I might up the saturation a little to see what it does - just a thought. Very nice image.

[Mike Moats]

Hey Dave, I really like the comp, Soft lighting and lines are great. Congrats.

[Fabs Forns]

This works very well as presented, very intricate patterns but very pleasing too. An alternate crop would be a couple of inches off the left, just leaving the lower plant complete.

[Dave Woeller]

Thanks Allen, Mike, and Fabs. I've been given some really good thoughts to work with on this shot. It will be fun trying the different crop and detail boost suggestions. Never enough time though.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Dave,
Very good suggestions given above! I will offer you yet another one to toy around with. Yes lighten the LLC....but then knock down the brightness on the whole thing and pull up some of the finer details.....this may give you another option to toy around with!

[Dave Woeller]

Thanks Roman, I've lightened the LLC and as expected, it made a huge improvement. Your brightness suggestion will be next on the list for experimenting. I's amazing how many different "looks" you can get from the suggestions here. Tough to choose a final.

[Anita Bower]

REally nice composition of a challenging subject. I like how the leaves interweave. I have nothing to add to the suggestions given above.

[Dave Woeller]

Thank you Anita. i appreciate your time and thoughts.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Please don't feel insulted because I am not an imaginative photographer neither am I very creative but I have to say this is the sort of shot I would take and then ask myself where exactly is the principal interest - my eyes keep roving round the image and do not settle.:)

[Dave Woeller]

I am not insulted at all. Each of us has his/her own interpretations and feelings toward images. In this case my vision was the overall patterns formed by the grenery, and not a specific point in the shot. I truly apprecate your thoughts and time.