Last Years Oak Leaf

Charlie: I think you did great! The light looks good to me and I like your subject. What is the base? >=))>

Thanks Bill. This is sitting on a table covered with a flimsy brown cloth of what material, I don't know. It is the same material that I use as almost all my backdrops.. Good to know I still have the brightness about right.

Utterly gorgeous, Charlie. Now that I've said that, I like the lighting a lot. Overall brightness works very well, I think, and the strong directionality is perfect for the subject. If you had another light source, I might be tempted to bring out the far right side of the leaf, but I'm not at all sure it would add anything-just something I might try. Brilliant conception and execution.

Charlie, your eyes seem to be working very well, as is your imagination! This has such graceful lines, the old leaf almost looks alive.

Technically, you can look at this very closely, and see some "blown" highlights, but I always say that bright reflections are supposed to look that way. Dimming them would take the sparkle out of the image and make it less realistic, too. The dark parts look like they are in deep shadow, as they should be in this light. MUCH better than trying to brighten up shadows with an HDR-ish look.

Your responses are really appreciated each of you. I did just a slight levels adjustment and so glad for your comment, Wayne, that you think the somewhat blown portions and very dark sections are to your taste as they were to mine. Often on images I post there are things that I expect critique and they are often a personal choice. Once I got used to the rather unique critique of NPN it became such a learning value that I thank this group for what I feel is the greatest expansion of my ability as an over 50 year hobby of photography.

Interesting shot Charlie, very nice light, you captured the subject beautifully.
John

Charlie:

I think your lighting here is just spot on. The darkish image goes well with the mood of a leaf which have seen better light. Yet despite the darkish mood, there is lightness in the subject and it feels like it will be easily blown away with the slightess breeze. The leaf also looks fragile. Excellent subject choice, composition and execution.

Superb image, Charlie ! I agree with Dennis that the light is just about perfect - maybe that touch more on the right side of the leaf he mentions would be even better. But the overall high contrast effect is stunning.

Hi Charlie Everyone agrees that the light in this image is delightful..... this is a very pleasing capture of an oak leaf
Albert Darmo

I really like this Charlie, very good use of the side light to produce a dramatic image..
No easy task with a dead brown leaf
And the brightness is perfect for this style/type of image IMHO..
I might consider a different table cover, eliminating the obvious cloth texture/patterns there.
Well done