The First to Go

[Julie Kenward]

Here's a milkweed pod from my own backyard fence.

Canon 40D, EF 100mm f/2.8 macro
f4 @ 1/200th, ISO 400
Natural afternoon light, Daylight WB
Handheld, evaluative metering
Processed in CS5 and ran 2 rounds of NR on the BG

[Brendan Dozier]

This is excellent, Jules, I love how you captured the "behavior" of the seeds & seed pod. Nice job on whites, great exposure, detail, and the soft BG colors sooo nice! Was that one seed just hanging on a little bit, or was it falling from the pod? Looking at the shutter speed, I'm thinking maybe hanging, but it looks like it could be falling too.

[Julie Kenward]

Brendan, thank you. It was hanging. The wind was gusting now and then but I believe at this point it was caught by a few hairs and about to be set free. :S3:

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Jules, great capture of the moment! These pods are soooo pretty! Your BG is gorgeous (seems like you have some great fall colors there). I do wish you had stopped down to get the stem and the tip of the pod IF, but this is no dealbreaker for me on this wonderful image.

[Julie Kenward]

Jerry, the tip and stem were in focus. I used a bit of a blur vignette on the BG to help with noise and I might not have masked them back in properly.

[Dave Leroy]

Wonderful image Jules. It really shows off the season well. I also wondered about the dof so thanks for clarifying that detail. Really nicely done on the feathery seeds. Not sure if you did but I wonder if you tried some with a bit of camera rotation to have more of a diagonal on the pod.

[Julie Kenward]

I couldn't get more of a diagonal because of the fence running down two sides of the image...this was as close as I could get with those restrictions...but don't think I didn't think about it!

[Ken Childs]

Hey Jules, this is outstanding! The light is perfect, the BG screams fall and you couldn't have asked for a better placement of that one seed! I really don't think that more of a diagonal would help improve this and IMHO, I think it would have hurt the overall shot because the one seed would have been at too much of an angle. Very well done! :cheers:

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jules.

This is definitely one of your best images! Good title, excellent subject material, beautiful light, nice comp, and a colorful background. Outstanding! :cheers:

[Anita Bower]

Amazing detail and dof you get with f4, allowing for lovely, blurred bg.

[RohanThakur]

A brilliant capture, and a great background with great details ... thanks for sharing!

[Julie Kenward]

Thank you, everyone, for the nice comments. I've always loved seeing these in the fall season and this was one of the rare times that I actually caught up to one in a place where I could maneuver a photo.

[Bob Miller]

Hi Julie......Very nice exposure on those feathery white seeds and the bg is gorgeous! You might consider using tonal contrast on the pod. It might create a contrast with the soft feathery seeds.