Green Swirl

[Melissa Groo]

Canon 5d Mark II
Canon 100mm macro
ISO 800
1/3 sec
f/32
Gitzo tripod; no flash

Took this in a forest near home this spring. (Sorry, can't remember the name of the plant!)
In CS3, sharpened, contrast, upped vibrance, cloned out a shadow and a couple dirt spots.
Welcome any comments/critiques. Thanks for looking!

[Jay Sheinfield]

Hey Melissa,

Very creative............may I suggest a few minor adjustments, I can post it better than explaining it. I toned down the entire image to bring more detail to the bright areas, basically a reverse s-curve. Added some clarity in Lightroom to again bring out the wonderful lines of the leaves.
I did a 40% clone of the bordering leaves to reduce the black areas in the middle of the image (which I found a bit distracting). I left the framing alone, since I like it better than anything else i tried. Only thing else I could have wished for is more detail in the lower foreground leaf...................Otherwise, nice find! Let me know what you think.

[Valerio Tarone]

Hi Melissa i like the fine mixture of swinging texture, with the crossing leaves. good the work by Jane.

[Melissa Groo]

Jay, thanks so much for showing me (as well as telling me) your suggestions! Wonderful improvements. I particularly like your lightening of shadows at the center and the extra clarity you added. Thanks again!

[Julie Kenward]

Very nice eye, Melissa! On top of what Jay suggested I'd increase the contrast just a tiny bit more (not as far as you had it but maybe give the light tones a little more bounce). I'd also trim a bit off the bottom so it's 1/3 bottom area and 2/3 middle/top. In other words, put the "knot" area right at the ROT's bottom line horizontally.

Very nice work...just needed a little tone down and a few tiny tweaks. Again...good eye at seeing the pattern that was there!

[Ken Childs]

Hey Melissa, nicely spotted abstract! Jay made some great suggestions and adding Jules' ideas to that will take this one to the top! :cheers:

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Melissa,
I'm 100% with Jules on this one! Jay definitely headed in the right direction and the tweaks suggested will just take this up a few notches.

[Melissa Groo]

Thanks everyone! Super suggestions, Julie!

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Melissa. You captured some very nice patterns here and you have some good suggestions from Jay and Jules. My thoughts were that with all the patterns in the curving leaves plus the mix of bright, shadowed, and dark areas - that there is too much going on here all at once and my eye doesn't know where the center of interest lies. I think Jay was on the right track by toning down the brightness differences and Jules too, by suggesting you move the "knot" to a ROT position. If you get another opportunity with these plants, you could try this on an overcast day, or use a diffusion screen, to even out the light. Then you might experiment with the comp by moving the "knot" around to different ROT positions. This plant has a lot of potential for some very cool photos. :)

[Melissa Groo]

Thank you Steve, that's hugely helpful!

[Bob Miller]

Hi Melissa....This is a good example of line in composition. Its not easy to get all these lines to work together so well into a coherent comosition. I especially like the repost and many great suggestions have already been given that I second.
I would also like to ask your permission to use your photo in my photography class as a wonderful exemplar of composition with lines> I would of course give you credit and totally understand if you would rather not......Thanks....Bob

[Melissa Groo]

That's absolutely fine, Bob. Let me know if you want a higher res, and if so, shoot me your email address.

[Art Kornienko]

I prefer the colours in the and exposure in the original shot. Love the detail in the leaves.