Dead Leaves

[Round Tuit]

These leaves sticking out of the newly fallen snow caught my eyes. They offered another opportunity for a very simple composition.



As always C & C welcomed

André

[Shadowman]

Nice capture.

[Wavelength]

Very interesting....

[Mike Buckley]

Great eye! I just love simplicity when it comes to compositions. Nice detail of the snow nestled in the leaf on the left.

I'm curious: Was the light so diffuse that there was absolutely no shadow being cast by the leaves or is it possible that it was eliminated during post-processing? The first reason I ask is that I see the tonal variation in the snow, which makes me think there might have been a shadow cast by the leaves. The second reason is a shadow cast by the leaves would have tremendously helped give the viewer the feeling of three dimensions. Lacking that feeling, I had to think for about five seconds after immediately viewing your image to determine why the leaves looked like they were floating in mid air. It was during that detailed review that I saw that the stems are stuck in the snow.

[Kaye Leggett]

Lovely capture. The clarity of the leaves and the grain of the snow compliment each other very well

[Round Tuit]

Nice capture.

Thank you John

[Round Tuit]

Very interesting....

Tanks Nandakumar

[Round Tuit]

Lovely capture. The clarity of the leaves and the grain of the snow compliment each other very well

Thank you Kaye. Fresh fallen snow always has an interesting texture.

[Round Tuit]

Great eye! I just love simplicity when it comes to compositions. Nice detail of the snow nestled in the leaf on the left.

I'm curious: Was the light so diffuse that there was absolutely no shadow being cast by the leaves or is it possible that it was eliminated during post-processing? The first reason I ask is that I see the tonal variation in the snow, which makes me think there might have been a shadow cast by the leaves. The second reason is a shadow cast by the leaves would have tremendously helped give the viewer the feeling of three dimensions. Lacking that feeling, I had to think for about five seconds after immediately viewing your image to determine why the leaves looked like they were floating in mid air. It was during that detailed review that I saw that the stems are stuck in the snow.

Mike,

Thank you.
You certainly have a eye for details! The sky was heavily overcast when I took the photo. I had to go back to the raw file to answer your question because I made the rookie mistake of letting the camera set the exposure and ended up having to correct a one and a half stop under exposure. The raw file shows less tonal variations than the finished photo where the faint shadow of the leaves are located.

I have just noticed that my laptop does show a more pronounced shadow directly under the leaves that isn't as apparent on my wide gamut monitor. I enhanced it with localized processing.

#2


Is this closer to what you had in mind?

André

[Mike Buckley]

Yes, that is more like what I had in mind and more like what I would have expected to see in the physical scene at the time of capture. Notice that that little bit of shadow tonality that you brought back also grounds the composition in addition to making the scene appear more three-dimensional. I suspect that if you had not made the exposure mistake (we've all been there and done that!), the shadow of the leaves might have been even a little more prevalent.

When you capture an image like this one in that it gives you an opportunity to make exposure adjustments, be sure to check your histogram after taking a photo. Then adjust the exposure, if needed, and capture the scene again. Continue that process until you nail the exposure before moving on to the next scene.

[IzzieK]

And you succeeded in your vision and goal in the simplicity of the shot...good inspiration but we do not have much snow here in the Midwest as yet...I'm happy.

[Round Tuit]

I suspect that if you had not made the exposure mistake (we've all been there and done that!), the shadow of the leaves might have been even a little more prevalent.

Actually no. The raw file only shows the very faint shadow barely visible in my OP. I could not remember seeing a shadow when I took the photo. So I did an experiment; we've just had another grey day with fresh snow on the ground. I place my hand over the snow and gradually move it closer to the snow until a soft shadow became visible. That occured when my hand was approximately one and a half inches from the surface. My hand had to be closer than one inch before I got a distinct shadow. The leaf was much smaller than my hand and was not parallel to the surface of the snow. I am now convinced that the lack of shadow was not an underexposure problem. I suspect that the fresh snow acts as almost ideal reflector for the already diffuse light but I don't know for sure. In any case, I have learned something new today.

When you capture an image like this one in that it gives you an opportunity to make exposure adjustments, be sure to check your histogram after taking a photo. Then adjust the exposure, if needed, and capture the scene again. Continue that process until you nail the exposure before moving on to the next scene.

That, believe it or not, is something that I normally do as well as checking the focus and depth of field. The fact this was an opportunistic shot and that I have been out of practice for several months is my (lame) excuse for not doing it this time. Lying face down in the snow probably did not help either.


André

[Round Tuit]

And you succeeded in your vision and goal in the simplicity of the shot...good inspiration but we do not have much snow here in the Midwest as yet...I'm happy.

Thank you Izzie.
It looks like we are both getting the weather that we like.