Leaf at Dawn

Dean,

Even though the leaf feels a bit placed, I think it provides a wonderful color counterbalance and strong compositional element. And even though the moon is small, it's important and I like it's presence too. The clouds work well to keep the sky from being empty and overall I think this is a strong composition.

Lon

On the leaf, I don't think "placing" it is a problem at all. I wouldn't hesitate to do it. What I would as myself is "could" this leaf have been there naturally? Is it "believable"? I think it certainly is, here. I am struck by the perspective, i.e., how large the leaf appears in relation to the remainder of the photo.

I would like to see a larger version of this image. I am looking at it on small and not very good monitor. To me, it seems like a pretty large mass of grey in comparison to the foreground. But I think there are some pretty nice traces of color in the sky, which might change my thinking on the overall image. While I agree with Lon that the clouds and the moon add enough interest to make the image stand as a whole, this is one of those shots where I see at least one "image within the image." I wonder if a crop just above the tree line would give this image more "in your face" impact?

The leaf is well placed and add some color and color contrast to the scene. This is well composed and I agree with lon about the moon and the clouds....even though the moon doesn't take that much place it's an important part of this image and so are the clouds.......the clouds make the sky more interesting.