Leaf on porch

The front porch was painted the other day and we had a heavy rain last night and the wind

blew leaves onto out porch.

I really like this. The water is really nice, the composition and the contrast in colour too. It's a slight shame, for me, that the leaf is wet in a slightly less attractive way but I am just being picky now.

Can't beat a spot of red on a white/grey background. Good eye.

Well - I guess as a Canadian I have to say it just feels so - Canadian :). I actually like the wet 'staining' of the leaf. What do you think of cropping from the top and left side so that the two larger puddles bleed off the edge?

Thanks for the comments. Here is a cropped version as

Eric suggested. Comments?

Not sure myself. My first impression of the new crop was that it was definately better but the more I look the more I think maybe not.

aahhhh... don't crop it! The leaves position is so comfortable here. The only thing I MIGHT suggest on a crop would be to remove the top bit of the image and bring it down to where the "big drops" end. I love the color vs. they grey and feel for it to really work it needs a big expanse of grey. Cropping it too much just makes it another leaf image.

 

Is the background naturally grey or did you do some selective color adjustments?

I usually don't touch others images but here is my crop example. If this bothers you let me know and I will remove it and please accept my apologies...

Seeing it cropped I have to agree with Dave - it destroys the balance of grey to red. I like it better 'as is'.

Yeah, I agree. My crop pales in comparison to the original. That's why I never work on others images. LOL...

Hmm - I was actually refering to the previous crop - we posted at almost the same time. But, I prefer the original to Dave's crop (I feel like I'm about to descend in to a Monty Python skit with all these crops...)

I won't offer a crop, but I see why it should be considered. The shapes in the background are a bit too defined, especially on the left. Mentally remove the leaf and you'll see that the composition works quite well. With the leaf, there's a bit of competition and tension as a result.

Thanks everyone for the comments. I have no problem with others working on my pictures. In the end I think I like my original crop the best, although I'm not sure. I made no color tone adjustments.

I like the leaf wet, I like the shapes of the wet porch . . . very nice and graphic!

I guess I'm in the minority then -- I do still like the idea of a crop but am thinking of one somewhere between Dave's and Frank's crops.

 

Frank's crop in response to Eric's suggestions feels too tight and because the leaf is occupying correspondingly more of the frame the balance with the grey is lost (as others have noted).

 

In Dave's version it feels slightly too high up on the photo because the crop hits the larger pools right where the effect seems a little indecisive as we've *almost* included the entire pool, but not quite.

 

I wonder if the crop were lowered by just a bit so that it runs just above the light area on the right pool and just below the horizontal top-edge of the left pool if that wouldn't perhaps work?

 

I'm speculating here, and the fact remains that this is a striking image that is all the better for its simplicity. Congratulations.

Thanks Jon. Is this crop what you mean?

 

Still prefer the original myself. Maybe, for me, the position of the leaf within the frame is important and it just seems better balanced in the original. Who'd have thought there was so much subjective discussion available in a wet leaf on a porch

I hope I'm allowed to "butt in" to this discussion at this late stage.

 

Stunning image.

 

On the subject of cropping, I feel that it's either best as it is, or if cropped at all the top edge of the puddles should go completely as in Frank's 2:15pm version. But I feel that there needs to be more space at the bottom, but not too much. This is yet another version, hope you really don't mind! I guess I'm with Jon Reaves in the minority.

 

It's great the way all the colour draws us so nicely to the leaf.

 

PS Hope your paint had time to dry before getting wet!

Thanks. The paint had dried, before the rain and leaves.