Return to Earth

Thankyou for your comments.

That is down right Ansel. Very nice quality, sense of light and tonal range. What filter did you use?

It's shots like thes that I aspire too.I would love to hear more tech details if you would be so kind.

 

Fine shot. The light and detail are excellent making the image feel very immediate and real. 6/6

Very nearly perfect, Hanna.

By itself, I like this. A good range of tone, shape and texture. It also looks very natural. However, whenever I take shots like these, I end up getting a little confused by the possibilities... should I stay natural or place the leaves? Should I go for a wider shot like this or reduce it to a single leaf? As I said, I like this, but part of me is distracted... what would a shot of the lighter leaf against the darker grass have look like? What would a shot of the dark leaf against the grass looked like, reducing the obvious tonal range and pulling the attention towards shape and texture, instead? I guess when I'm out, I just need to stop thinking so much and enjoy myself...

Thankyou all for taking the time to comment, and while I have your attention, may I wish you a peaceful and content new year.

 

Joe, tech details are minimal because my knowledge is limited. This is from a coloured digital shot, converted in greyscale with a few minor adjustments. I just fiddle with it until it looks right to me. I believe I just lightened the mid tones a little. From my limited experience I would say the most important thing for b&w is the light and a bright overcast sky or open shade are the best conditions. Nothing spoils a b&w more than blocky shadows from the sun, unless of course you want blocky shadows. I used a tripod so I could get enough light through a longer exposure.

 

Stephen, I understand your dilemma, but I tend not to want to interfere too much with this kind of subject. If I had moved anything here it would have disturbed the raindrops, which was much of the attraction. I did take a few other compositions, and my previous coloured images of these tulip tree leaves still on the branches were taken at the same time. The greatest problem was keeping the camera dry between the showers. But I did enjoy myself.

 

 

Ok,,, now that you have the digital, what do you think? and share with me please how you get such great detail on these close-ups!!!

Hi Regina. As you can see this is taken with the 300D, which has spent Christmas at the Canon service center with a broken mirror pin. Fortunately it was 3 months under the warranty limit. Getting the detail on the close-ups relies on a tripod, a relatively small aperture and using the timer. I very nearly always shoot in aperture priority because shooting in auto will choose shutter speed over f-stop, giving you less depth and detail. Well that's my amateur advice anyway. Now if I could just control the shakes from the withdrawal from being without my camera for three weeks.

Excellent job, Hanna....!!! Perfect tones and exposure.... I love the sharp details, too!

its a beautiful image!