Down By the Lazy River

[Julie Kenward]

...Or lazy creek as is the case here. :bg3: Created this image two weekends ago in the early morning hours in deep shade. I threw the leaf into the pond/creek and waited for it to get to the part where all the colors were reflecting off the surface. I did change up the white balance in pp to create the darker blues and oranges in the BG.

Canon 40D, EF 70-200mm f/4
f/7.1 @ 1/80th, ISO 400, natural light (but heavy shade)
Handheld, evaluative metering

Processed in ACR, CS5, & Nik's Color Efex

[Brendan Dozier]

Very nicely composed, Jules! Love the serene feel, soft light, reflection, shape and lines, complimentary colors, and water tension rim. Nice touch with color adjustments. Very minor, but I might be tempted to crop out, or tone down the lightest blue reflection spot at bottom. All in all, very pleasing to the eye!

[Julie Kenward]

Nice catch, Brendan...I'll certainly go back and tone that down a bit! Thanks so much for your input.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jules. The bright yellow leaf, oriented diagonally and off-center, with the blue, orange, and brown ring of surface tension around it - is spectacular! :cheers: The blues in the water are beautiful, but IMO, they are competing for my attention with the leaf. The leaf, on its own, is enough to make this an outstanding image. Maybe toning down all the bright blues (except those right around the edge of the surface tension line) is the answer. :S3:

[Julie Kenward]

Steve, that would be another way I could go and I might try that when I convert this to a duotone or tritone image. As it is, I like the opposite colors coming at each other - I feel they create a tension that mirrors the tension of the leaf on the water. I do agree that the one spot at the bottom of the frame needs to go, though - but will take another look at the blue intensity just to see if I like it better. Thanks for the comment!

[Ken Childs]

Hi Jules, this one is lovely! Brendan and Steve have already complimented the merits of this image better than I ever could have so I'll just say I agree with everything they said! :bg3:

The colors look great as is but I understand what Steve is saying.....maybe adding a little black to the blues would be worth exploring. This is one of those images that could be taken in a lot of different directions during processing. :S3: