Holdouts

This is very nice, Bill Fach. I just spent several minutes looking. The arc of the composition is wonderful as os the spectrum of color. It's spectacular just as it is; "suchness".

I was looking at your EXIF data and I note that you shot this at f/5.6. When I look at the large view image, I can see some softness in the DoF limits due, in part, to the focal length of the lens. One take-away I would have from this might be to try shooting brackets with, perhaps getting two stops in ISO at 800 to gain two in aperture at f/11 which would have picked up more in DoF.

I don't intend this comment to be a criticism because the image is perfect as is. I love it. But in the spirit of this forum, I'm just mentioning it because it is something that occurs to me in viewing the image.

There is rarely, if ever, a time I don't wish I had tried other things in memorable photographs I've taken, and I'm just sharing that with you; take it for whatever it may be worth or not.

John: Thanks for your thoughtful comments. They not only help me but other posters and visitors as well. I'll share some of my thought processes regarding this particular shot. This bunch of leaves is about 8-9 feet above ground. There are tall dense live oaks behind them that form the BG. There was also a light breeze and since these leaves were at the end of a 5-6 foot branch they were moving about some. I could and should have gone to ISO 400 at least. Even with this state of the art sensor I'm not all that comfortable with ISO 800 and higher. One thing I'm religious about when composing images is using the DOF preview and hyperfocal distance review. However that was too hard to assess with the live view. More DOF would have worked for the leaves but would also have brought out more BG details that I wanted to keep OOF. Decisions, decisions! . . . Bill >=))>

I'd say it certainly worked Bil. Strong comp, love the dark bg with the stem just showing through and also the warm color palette. Beautiful and graceful.

pat

Wow. The colors are just brilliant. Whoda thunk you could find such beauty in decaying leaves?

The way the leaves make an arc & come out of the dark background is stunning!

Bill - Beautiful arch making an inverted V. Good light, details and colors.

Love the color palette here Bill... and love the comp too, the lines leading to the corners. Like this one..

Balan Vinod

Bill:

This leaves demonstrate that old can be beautiful! Living in the subtropics, I have not known such beauty in dying leaves until my recent trip to Tokyo. The drooping leaves accentuate the tired ageing process the leaves are going through.

As I understand it, the D600 uses Sony's sensor designed for the A77. I have used iso800 without any appreciable noise for insect flight. I am quite comfortable with iso 1600 on the D600. I use live view quite a lot for macro work especially with dragonflies

Beautiful light and arched shape of the leaves, Bill! I especially like the pink veins in the green and yellow leaves. Very nicely done.

Hi Bill An excellent composition featuring sublime color and detail. so happy to see you enjoying your new camera, and live view. like gary said i shot at 800. and had no noise.
Albert Darmo

Bill,
I am really impressed by this photo. I love the composition and the slightly colored leaves on black BG are amazing. The framing is very well chosen, in a straight view that works very well graphically, and gives a nice perspective to the leaves. The light has a beautiful effect on the elements, and the simple colors are magnificent. Well done!!!

Bill, I've found live view very useful in shooting very low light/night scenes. It lets me see what's going on rather than guessing about the comp. and distracting details near the frame....one more tool in the "bag of tricks". The arch of the leaves here is great as is the spectrum of colors. I do wonder if the stems/major veins are really that electric magenta?

A splendid composition Bill.
Cheers.

Wow, just emerging from the background so brilliantly. Outstanding, Bill!