Santa Fe Leaves

[Cheryl Slechta]

I had hoped to get to New Mexico to see the fall color and there were still a few trees hanging onto their leaves but most of them had fallen. This was taken in Santa Fe on one of the paths along the river. I experimented with Topaz effects but decided (and originally intended) to use Fractalius - one of my custom presets. I then used a multiply duplicate layer about 20% to heighten the colors a bit.

[Dennis Bishop]

Wow. To me, a closeup like this is often so much better than an image that shows colored leaves on one or more trees. Your processing is wonderful, and -- while they're very subtle -- the diagonals of color are a wonderful element. The interplay of the whitish stems on the colors is icing on the cake. Very nicely done.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks, Dennis. The stems on the original image are very white and probably stood out too much so this is a nice compromise, I think.

[Nancy Bell]

I love images where patterns make up the entire image, from edge to edge. Beautiful shades of gold and just a lovely amount of processing to add a bit of softness, and abstractness with the stems and veins. There is one small leaf along the bottom edge, about 1/3 in from the left, that is the odd leaf and does not have the yellows of all the others.

[Arthur Morris]

Simply beautiful. Love the patterns and the soft light and colors. I hope that folks realize that you took lots of time to find and frame this pleasing arrangement.... Images like this are not a result of pointing and shooting :) Mods rock!

[Rachel Hollander]

Cheryl - I really like the way you filled the frame here. The colors are great and I too think this is better than leaves on trees. Nicely seen, captured and pp.

TFS,
Rachel

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks, Nancy, Artie and Rachel! I appreciate the kind words.

[gary ellwein]

I love the simplicity of the image. Thanks to Artie for pointing out images of this nature don't come easily. I will try the multiply duplicate layer with reduced opacity on one of my leaf images that needs a bit more color. If it works I'll post it. Glad you had a wonderful time at Bosque.

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks, Gary! Bosque was different than last year and the snow was an added bonus

[Diane Miller]

I love the soft treatment here! Well done!

[Kerry Perkins]

I love this Cheryl. I can easily imagine what the trees looked like when the leaves were on them just by looking at this image. Good call to tone down the stems, it worked really well!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Thanks, Diane and Kerry