Thursday, September 06, 2007

Yearning Over A New Leaf

From Land's End To John O'Growth

Photographs copyright: DAVID McMAHON


I shot these about an hour ago, in a friend's garden. I had to compromise on the exposure of the first frame (above) because I wanted to capture the delicate shadow on the new leaf - but this meant shooting straight into the sun. This in turn caused the blue "flare" that you can see clearly in the top left corner. The second shot (below) was taken from about thirty degrees away. Seems to have worked, don't you reckon? The colour of these leaves always intrigues me and at this time of the year, you see the brilliant red hue of the new leaves along with the glossy green of last year's growth.


Click here: Pentax K100D, Shutter speed 1/250, F8, ISO speed 200.

11 comments:

Ali said...

Beautiful David, and I agree, the second shot is better overall, but that first has a certain depth that you wouldn't have achieved without shooting into the sun.

Jo Beaufoix said...

Fab picture David.
And I kind of like the blue flare too.

david mcmahon said...

Hi Ali,

Thank you. You're right in that summary. And I think my instinct was right - to shoot into the sun first and take the ``safe'' shot next.

Value your opinion.

Keep smiling

David

david mcmahon said...

Thanks, Jo

First of all, I hope both your munchkins are fine and that the school didn't need to call.

Hope you get a good night's sleep tonight.

Yep, Ali, you and I are all partial to the blue flare - it's the sign of honesty in approach!

Keep smiling

David

~**Dawn**~ said...

Another vote for liking the top photo better! It looks more warm & alive to me -- and without being there, I still feel like I can say that it captures the moment better than the second photo.

david mcmahon said...

Thank you Dawn,

You summed up my own feelings there.

Keep smiling

David

Anonymous said...

Garden Shots! Great!

I prefer the first with the darker green impressionistic background and the way the light illuminates the crisp edges of the red leaves. Contrast, color and depth.

The second shot is good also. Its more complex in content with leaves and stems at various angles. But without the depth of the first shot.

kml said...

The first shot is definitely the most profound. Excellent lighting - and that flare can be "fixed" with a little work of magical Photoshop.

Great job!!

fuzzbert_1999@yahoo.com said...

Nice to see your part of the world enjoying Spring...we didn't have much, with the late frost killing all the buds, and then the dry year killed what survived. I don't even think we will have pretty fall colors this year.

So, we'll just have to enjoy your great shots!

FHB said...

Purdy. I took some great shots of Sydney when I was there. Very pretty place. Your country is beautiful.

Unknown said...

These are great shots, I think pretty much the same as the others - the first conveys more feeling, while the second is more "correct" and still looks nice.