Leaf in the Spotlight

In the original of this photo the main leaf was very close in tone to the BG(see image in next post), so I had to do some extensive burning and dodging to get the image I envisioned. I also converted this to tritone, for which I decided to try a silvery tone rather than the sepia tones I've always done before. Let me know what you think of it!

Olympus SP-550 UZ
f4.5 @ 1/30, ISO 100, -0.3 EV
Aperture priority mode, pattern metering
Processed in PS CS2; channel mixer, curves adjustments, burning and dodging, added a vignette, blurred the BG a tiny bit, and converted to tritone

Just for comparison, here is the B&W image before any burning and dodging.

Christopher, I'm glad you included the other image. I can really see the punch that you got from the dodging/burning. I love the silvery tones. Great tones throughout. The vignette is a bit dark,but it does add a nice mood.

Hi Christopher,
I like this very much...its well seen. You display good details and texture...good show...looking forward to more...:cool:

All the work certainly paid off. The leaf stands out very nicely from the background. Since it looks like the under leaf in the LL is also part of the subject, I think I would like to see a wee bit more room at the bottom. Overall, nicely done Christopher.

Ed, unfortunately this is full frame, though I do agree that a little more room would be nice. Thanks for looking and commenting, everyone!

Christopher,
Thanks for including the original - the before/after comparison is really instructive. I can see what attracted you to the main leaf in the original, and I know I've walked away from any number of similar situations because I really didn't have a clue how to produce a good visual separation between the subject and background. Now I have one (a clue), thanks to your explanation of what you did, and your very effective result!

Thanks Chris! The majority of my photos aren't as heavily modified as this one was, but I felt this subject was worth the extra work.