More Leaves...

[JohnMW]

Hello, all. : )

I had posted two other images like these in the "Share Photos" board, but generated no replies. I figured I'd post two others here to see what may be wrong with them. lol. Please be brutal in your critique as otherwise, I'll probably make the same mistakes as I did with the others. ;p

These shots were taken with a 10D and Canon 100mm Macro lens. These are both full frame shots with no cropping... and the only adjustments otherwise were de-saturation of the image as well as levels adjustments, and the adding of a border.

Thank you very much for your time,
John Wilson.

http://www.panix.com/~jmw74/temp/fall1.jpg

http://www.panix.com/~jmw74/temp/fall3.jpg

[Leighow]

JOHN

It seems to me amateur eyes that these leaves are not especially sharp. Also, wehave all seen deadish leaves and I can almost hear them crackle. Even so I suspect that I would prefer to see them in color. The B & W does not seem to bring them out here.

What do you love about these images?

HOWIE

[RedShoesGirl]

I like number 2 best, number one just doesn't move me at all.

The shapes in 2 are very appealing. The foreground of the leaf being out of focus is distracting though. I do like the crispness of the snail-like part of the curl.

[Mark Kemp]

Im afraid I agree with Leighow, they lack shapness and I don't think that the black and white is helping.

They are also cropped very tight and touch almost all the edges of the frame, which makes the pictures seem cramped.

However, having said all that - its a good basic idea, still lifes of dead leaves. You have a good creative idea, which is much harder than learning the technical stuff.

You can learn about aperture and exposure and suchlike, but nobody can teach you to have creativity.

Please pursue your idea some more, take some more shots of dead leaves, bearing in mind what we have suggested.

Clearly you saw something in these dead leaves worth the time and effort to photograph, you just need to try again to make us all see it too!

[JohnMW]

Hi, folks.

Thank you for your comments in regard to these images. They have all helped in numerous ways... and it has reinforced my need to learn a great deal more.

Thank you once again, and I hope to be able to post better images soon.

Take care and be well,
John.

[stopbath]

re: black and white vs colour. My vote is on black and white. The black and white adds a sombre feeling to the shot. I think your inclination of b&w was correct.

The lighting is great. Nice shadows, and highlights.

Re: first shot. This one doesn't move me either. I find the smaller portion is in focus, while the concave portion is out of focus, perhaps swing your viewpoint so we see most of the concaver portion, and the upturned portion blocks less. Let the upturned portion fall out of focus, and use depth of field to capture the concave portion in focus. The shot seem sharp enough. Focus (on the part that is focused) is good. Image (on my monitor) is not fuzzy at all.

Re: Second shot: This is the most powerful of the two.

The curl brings volumn to an otherwise almost without mass structure. I find the leaf at the top a distraction, and the leaf portion on the left overbearing. It might stand to be burned done a level or two.
Also the depth of field is nice. Perhaps a smidge more, maybe not. The viens are the hightlight of the shot. Very nice. I'm not sure about the table top though. Perhaps if it didn't fade to black so quickly?

That's my opinion and I do like the feelings that the pictures portray.

Have fun with the next batch!

[henkbos]

Might be the time fo the year, but if I open a topic "leaves" I just expect to see a different kind of shot.
- i don't like the asymmetrical framing
- the main subject here is not very recognizable

Keep shooting though

[ajax]

I like the second shot best, also.

Do you ever see a photo that someone else took and think "heeeyyy...that looks like something that I would have taken." Maybe that's why I like them? :D I'm fond of black and white, dark, tightly cropped images.

Nicely done. Makes me want to run around and take black and whites of curled up leaves.