Printable View
Here's another dead leaf image :). For this one, I did a little selective desaturation to help highlight the main leaf. Let me know what you think!
Olympus SP-550 UZ
f4.5 @ 1/60, ISO 200, -0.3 EV
Aperture priority mode, pattern metering
Processed in PS CS2; curves adjustment, channel mixer, hue/saturation layer, and slight crop
Christopher, I think it's a great look . I would crop some off the top. The textures are very interesting and I like the tones of the image. Well done.
I think I would like to see the colored leave higher in the photo.
Christopher, I like what you did with this image. Adding a different color to the center of interest was a nice touch. Yes, a bit more room on the bottom would of helped and for my taste I would crop from the top down to the bottom of the second black hole. Good eye!
i would have placed that leaf dead center of the frame diagonally. i like the idea. the desat really makes the main leaf stick out and give you a point of interest.
Thanks everyone for the advice! Here is the image recropped. Unfortunately I didn't have much more room to the bottom, I added all that I had. I also cropped from the top as suggested. Don't believe this is perfect, but it's the best I could do with this. Probably, I should have composed with the leaf in the ULC and/or at a diagonal as Harold suggested.
Christopher, I think it looks good!!
The repost is much better. A vignette may look nice on this too.
Hi Christopher, I think the crop is a definate improvement. My favorite of your prior leaf images!
Thanks everyone! Michael, I'll try your suggestion of a vignette.
Hi Christopher. The image, especially with your final crop is quite good. The idea is what is important, and it is a good one. As far as this image goes, it would have been even better if the brown leaf was brightly colored, like in the fall. The contrast between black and white, and color, is what is visually most striking in such images, and brown isn't quite there yet.
Fall isn't too far off.
I don't like vignettes, or fancy frames for that matter, for they detract from the image IMO. Now if you have an image isn't so hot, maybe you might need a fancy frame or vignette to distract the viewer. I don't know, but certainly not this image. Simple few pixel wide black outline works perfectly well.
regards~Bill
Bill, In actuality this leaf was a bit more brightly colored. I deliberately lowered the opacity of the leaf mask because I wasn't after a strong contrast. I just wanted a hint of color to make the main leaf stand out a bit. Agree with your point that more color would be more striking, but it just wasn't my vision for this particular image.
Personally, I like vignettes because they darken the edges of the image which IMO can help concentrate attention on the subject. Nothing wrong with having different opinions, though, and thanks for commenting! :)
Chris, another way to go would be to keep the original crop but to have turned the leaf so the stem was angled towards the LLC and the tip went towards the middle - this would have pulled the eye through the image even more.
Still...I like it as presented...would just like to see more crisp details on your main leaf so it really pops out from the bunch even more.
Christopher: I see your point, and it is quite interesting hearing how you approached the creation of the image. Point well taken on the vignette(hadn't thought of it that way, obviously!). regards~Bill
