You could view these leaves as representing two scenarios — they lay marking the better days of a past when things were warm and green or they lay awaiting fresh beauty and better days soon to be.
In passing with a quick glance you might embrace either choice, looking back or looking forward, thereby missing the beauty of the present moment. And it would be a shame to miss such a beautiful moment
This photo was made this past January on one of my forays into the local woods. Melting frost provided deep color saturation giving visual life again to this one large leaf amid smaller kin — its singular simplicity amid the chaos of the smaller leaves draws the eye. Perhaps a lesson there for each of us in these chaotic times.
I did minimal post-processing with a little sharpening.
You found a fine leaf to feature in this ground shot. I especially like the rich colors and detail. Well done.
Don, thank you!
Boy, Earl, you are producing images with superb color these days. The child in me wants to take off my shoes and play in those leaves. I love the depth and texture in this.
Thanks, I’m glad you enjoying my recent images, Anita. On the day I made this particular photo the temperature was about 30°F with bits of frost still around, you might want to keep your shoes on. ;-)
I love the holes in the leaf. The bugs and slugs have been busy!
Steve, thanks, I like the imperfections of the big leaf as well. I walked this same trail two weeks later and couldn’t find this particular leaf — things change and each moment we capture with our cameras are unique. Heady stuff when you think about it. :-)
Greetings from the road Earl. I’m enjoying your philosophical musings almost as much as I am the photos themselves. Interesting thoughts.
Hey PJ, I hope the journey is going well.
Part of my “having fun” process this year is to be open with more of my personal thoughts — I’m usually guarded, somewhat shy and wanting to be in control of my personal opinions and reactions to them, but I’ve realized being true to having fun will require giving up some of that control.
In any case, I’m glad you’re enjoying my wandering musings as well as the photos.
Take care and it’s good to hear from you.
Love this shot Earl. One of my favorites of late. As busy as the surrounding leaves can be thought to be, I see these in a harmonious pattern supporting your main subject. The tones are subdued enough to not cause too much visual confusion. Very cool and well done.
Thanks, Mark. It’s among my favorites as well.
The tones and textures are excellent – what a great image!
Martina, thank you. I appreciate your comment and visit. I’ve also been enjoying your site and photos.
I think of your latest set, this is my favorite as well. How are you processing these? They really sing.
Thank you so much, Chris. Of course each photo gets unique processing at some point but if I had to generalize I’d say first of all it begins in the camera.
These days I’m shooting with a -1/3 exposure bias and have found it makes a difference in getting richer colors and tones, especially on the D700. Once I have the image in Lightroom/Photoshop I’ll often do raw pre-sharpening followed by tonal adjustments in NIK Color Efex Pro and sometimes slight exposure or other adjustments in Topaz Adjust/Simplify. Then in Photoshop or Lightroom I’ll do my final adjustment which might include a little sharpening and noise reduction. That’s most of the basics but some go far beyond that. :-)
However, this image was an exception to that processing, it didn’t require much adjustment at all.
very very nice
enjoyed
Thank you, Mostafa!