I have a couple vernal ponds in the park that I shoot at, and this was at the late stage as the pond was drying up for the summer. Vernal ponds are low lying areas in the woods that fill up with snow melt and spring rains. It usually takes till mid july before they dry up.
I'm so glad you explained what a vernal pond was because I was just getting ready to ask! I love the metallic look that you get on your leaf images, Mike. Do you think that is due more to the lighting you capture the images in or is it something you do in post-processing? It's such a lovely touch to the image to see those deep, rustic colors come out without being bright/oversaturated as we see so often this time of year.
I like very much this picture! The graphical composition is really artistic and I like very much the textures that we can feel. You put the left leaf in the upper corner perfectly vertical and that brings an anchor of force to the whole picture. I like it very much!!!