A Golden Glow

Sometimes the simplest composure of a shot can speak the loudest, which is exactly what I tried to accomplish with this shot. As with the shot before, A Nice Day, the bright colors of the changing autumn leaves really caught my attention. Along with the golden color of the foliage, I was blessed to have clear, blue sky for the accompanying background. The combination is very simple, uncluttered shot filled with brilliant color. I think that without the use of a wide aperture, this shot would not nearly have the same effect. The seven-leafed branch, in focus in the shot, really tells the story of the plant life. It is stretching as high as it possibly can and spreading out its leaves to catch as many of the sun's rays as possible.

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Location: Second Lid Park, Mercer Island, Washington
Season: Autumn
f-stop: 4.5
Shutter speed: 1/800
Focal length: 105mm
ISO: 100
Other comments: Strong sunlight, very clear skies

Leaf of Light

This image is a little odd, considering the actual conditions surrounding it. It's a B+W shot of a green leaf that has just turned golden-yellow. Behind the leaf is direct sunlight and a blue sky. The idea here was to try to create an x-ray type image, much like those by Bert Myers, but use a DSLR and have a black background. To get this shot I zoomed in on the back side of the leaf and set my exposure. Then I zoomed out to frame the shot, holding the original exposure settings. I stopped down the shot by -1/3 and finally achieved what I was looking for.

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Location: Second Lid Park, Mercer Island, Washington
Season: Autumn
f-stop: 4.5
Shutter speed: 1/1000
Focal length: 105mm
ISO: 100
Compensation: -.3 step
Other comments: