Hanging On

[FrankMi]

This leaf was caught in the shallow waters of a stream but try as I might I can't get it to look 'right'.

Any suggestions?

[Mike Buckley]

I don't know what your intentions are, but there is a good chance that the problem is in the capture. There is a lot of glare in the image that could have been minimized or eliminated using a polarizing filter.

[Dave Humphries]

Hi Frank,

This leaf was caught in the shallow waters of a stream but try as I might I can't get it to look 'right'.

Any suggestions?

Yes; a very low shooting angle might help.

The problem with a subject like this is that in real life, it is a constantly moving subject which attracts and holds our attention, but when a momentary capture is taken, especially at this angle, most/all that is lost, rather like trying to enjoy the whole of a story from reading a single page of a good book.

Perhaps even a semi-submerged capture would be possible with a waterproof camera.

With a low angle, the gravity defying nature of the splash over the top and the force of the water on the leaf should (hopefully) be more apparent.

HTH,

[FrankMi]

I don't know what your intentions are, but there is a good chance that the problem is in the capture. There is a lot of glare in the image that could have been minimized or eliminated using a polarizing filter.

Thank you for your feedback Mike. It was the sparkle of the sun on the water that captivated my interest in the scene so I was hoping to improve the image without losing that.

[FrankMi]

The problem with a subject like this is that in real life, it is a constantly moving subject which attracts and holds our attention, but when a momentary capture is taken, especially at this angle, most/all that is lost, rather like trying to enjoy the whole of a story from reading a single page of a good book.

My guess is that you are spot on with this assessment Dave, a good lesson to remember when I am trying to capture this kind of an image. I had thought of making it into an animated GIF but that is a lot of work and I don't think it would play to best advantage with this image.

The only way I could shoot the scene was from a bridge going over the stream so other options were less possible. I like the idea of a semi-submerged view and that would certainly be an option in future images. The water is less than an inch deep where the leaf got trapped so it wouldn't work here I'm afraid.

[kdoc856]

Hi, Frank

Might it help to emphasize the flow over the leaf by cropping so the leaf is more in the left lower corner, i.e. off the left and a litttle off the bottom and maybe a little off the right margin? It would also emphasize that nice diagonal up to the right.