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I like this. I do like the detailed texture and subtle colors of the foliage very much. The color seems natural and complements the more monochrome water, though it seems a little low in contrast. I am not so much of a fan of the smooth flowing water look, but that's really unavoidable in this low light situation. I'd also rather not have the largest tree trunk leading the view out of the image to the right, though I like the curves of the smaller trees, especially the central one.

The dark water provides nice contrast to the bold color but subtle

shading and variation of tone in this magnificent tropical waterlilly.

This is a straightforward view with a 105 micro lens on a low tripod.

A moderately small aperture provides enough depth of field on the

flower but keeps the background a bit out of focus to further set off

the flower. A light rain just starting provided a nice touch of water

drops on the petals.

Here's a reprise of this remarkable (natural) ice sculpture from a

while ago. This is a tighter crop of

href=http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=1370057>the version

already on-line

. I feel this is much stronger. I wanted to keep

as much as possible of the swirling water below the ice. I'm

particularly fond of the texture of that water and it does somewhat

balance the somewhat distracting bright ice at the top left (which has

been burned in a bit).

I almost missed this opportunity in a rainy, dark walk in a forest

along the Patuxent River. It was early spring when the oaks were just

leafing out; this one has an exquisite palette of subtly graded color

before turning fully green. These leaves are quite small, not more

than two inches long. This close view also shows the finely textured

surface of the leaves holding a few drops of water. Later on the

leaves will be quite smooth and glossy.

This is my take on the classic Eliot Porter photo of redbud and new

spring leaves. The juxtaposition of the clear magenta of the redbud

blooms against the luminous green of fresh leaves always astonishes

me. It's something of a challenge to capture the subtle yet striking

color and the dynamic range from the highlights on the flowers and

leaves to the shadows of the woods.

Thanks for the comments. I agree that the gray border doesn't work with this. In a frame, I'd likely use a plain white "gallery" matte and simple black frame. What do you suggest?

I greatly admire the dramatic blooms of the southern magnolia: the

creamy texture and soft off-white color, but especially the play of

light and shadow among the petals creating a wonderful range of

tonality. There are some magnificent specimens, including this one

at the National Arboretum in Washington, D.C.

Here's a bit of form, light and shadow, as well as texture and detail

of the veins of two tulip tree leaves.

Oblique light near sunset brings out the relief in the desert as seen

from the top of Kitt Peak, Arizona.

Here's another fungus, this one growing on a fallen branch. I really

liked the form and subtle coloring. I did remove (and replace with

black) the distracting background to emphasize the form of the fungus

and texture of the log.

Thanks! It's always nice to get a positive ID. Here's another photo of the same specimen from the side (and minus the fly).

I just took two exposures, focusing on the central, higher section and the outer, lower part. These were combined in separate layers in Photoshop with a mask to blend them where they are both in focus. It's similar to doing this with different exposures to extend dynamic range -- expose for shadows and highlights and combine them afterward. Turns out the fly moved between the exposures, but appears only once here.

The fly was a nice bonus on top of this amazing fungus in my back

yard. The biggest challenge was to get everything in focus, since

the center is quite a bit closer than the edges here; it's only a

few inches across. Always attracted to interesting fungi, I

particularly liked the strange texture and the soft color and shading

of this one.

I'd have preferred a darker background, I guess. As often happens, I was working in something of a hurry, with failing light, rising wind and mimial equipment (handheld) so the options were somewhat limited. But I was happy to see the great detail in the fine fibers.

The texture of these fibers is incredible to me. I can't decide if I

like this or the

other

one better.

We had a nice dense fog in the morning not long ago, which helped

isolate these beeches from the trees in the background and provide

nice soft light. I continue to be drawn to the texture and patterns

of these trees with their great silvery bark and tenacious leaves.

I was drawn to the strong form of this coneflower just about

opening. The strong light was helpful to isolate the flower allowing

the background to go very dark (this was in the garden in daylight,

not in a studio).

A very good question, and certainly a valid comment about this particular image. I'll admit it's kinda minimalist. A better example of what I was trying for is this older photo. I would prefer to have seen better texture on the leaf. Lotus sometimes make for phenomenal interactions of leaf, moisture, and light. I think it was a rather nicely balanced composition, at least.

Nevertheless, I'm not sure a photo has to say anything in particular. If so, then this one says that I saw something that caught my eye and I wanted to make a representative image of it. I wanted to convey to others the beauty that I experienced in the natural world. In this case, what I saw was an interesting pattern in a leaf, with light shining on it in a certain way, and water drops reflecting and refracting in their particular sparkly way to provide additional interest. Sometimes the subject of a photograph is light itself, or texture, or color, or graphic form.

I thought this simple, graphic design highlighted the subtle color

and texture of the lotus leaf but with some interest from the bright,

specular highlights of the small drops of water. I'm always

fascinated by the way water beads on these leaves, making it look

like mercury.

I was surprised to run across some old, abandoned machinery on a hike

along a nearby river. I thought these gears had an amazing

sculptural quality, particulary so starkly illuminated by the bright

sun, and covered with a patina of rust. This was pretty

straightforward to photograph. I moved in close to isolate and

emphasize the form and texture and exposed to preserve some detail in

the foreground shadow as well as highlights, looking for a little

sparkle in the specular reflections.

The ant and its shadow were a nice bonus to add a little point of

interest to the form, texture and color of this backlit peony. As

usual in macro, it was challenge to get enough depth of field to have

everything in focus, especially outdoors with any air movement

threatening sharpness.

This guy was rather cooperative -- sat in a tree next to my house

long enough for me to get a long lens on the camera and squeeze off a

few shots before he flew away. This seemed the most dramatic of them.

I'd be grateful for any comments on this or any of my other photos.

 

By the way, if anyone can confirm the variety of hawk, I'd be

grateful. I suspect it's a red shouldered, but I'm not very

experienced at bird identification.

This is a reasonably close macro; the image is maybe a few inches

across. I liked the strong graphic element of the bright stellar

pattern of veins in the leaf. I didn't really see the sprinkling of

pollen on the leaf until I had the image enlarged in Photoshop. I'd

prefer it to be in focus throughout but couldn't quite get enough

depth of field at this magnification.

Thanks for all the kind comments. I wanted particularly to respond to Richard Thompson's note about balance. I struggled with cropping quite a bit and do consider balance to be a very important aspect of composition (much more so than somewhat arbitrary "rules"). I thought I'd include the original uncropped version to show something of my thinking. I certainly felt the extra bit of petal in the lower right was distracting and tried to crop just enough from both left and right to achieve some balance. I'd be eager to know if a different crop would be an improvement.

I love the form and texture. I don't particularly care for it falling out of the frame though; it makes the frame more noticable and therefore distracts from the subject. My first question is, what is it (looks like some sort of succulent plant maybe) so for a caption I'd say what it is.