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Red Maple
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Red Maple

by Wayne Jones

Gallery: FloraPosted May 21, 2013104 views4 comments
These are the male flowers of a red maple tree.

I had a ball shooting the tree buds on the island where I camped during my last canoe trip. Back-lit by the morning light, I thought the water made a great backdrop. I don't carry all my lenses on trips where I have to carry the canoe and gear through the woods to get to the water, but my trusty Sigma 17-70 doubles as a fine semi-macro because is focuses very close and is extremely sharp.

Canon 50D
Sigma 17-70
1/400 sec. @ f/8; ISO 160
5 shots stacked in CS6 (Stacking messed up the background, so I used just one of the exposures for that part of the frame.)

Comments

4 comments
Comment posted by Dennis Plank on May 21, 2013 at 10:42 PM
Very cool image with the backlit blossoms, Wayne. An unusual subject and well seen and photographed. I can't make up my mind about the diaphragm drops in the bg. They're interesting, but kind of draw my eye from the main subject.

:toast:
Registered on January 28, 2008, 1767 Posts, 23192 Comments
Comment posted by John Clulow on May 22, 2013 at 10:14 AM
This is nice and I wouldn't have thought it was a red maple. I love the diagonal, that it flows from left to right, and especially the color contrasts of red and green, blue and yellow.

It really does "pop" both in color and in form with the anthers being most notable in that regard.

I do have a feeling, however, something I can't exactly put my finger on, of maybe a tad too much contrast or sharpness, but I think more contrast. But it's just something a bit harsh, although I'm not sure that's the right word either. And the more I look at it, the more I find myself liking it.

There is sort of a tension there though that I am having trouble articulating.

Registered on November 1, 2012, 155 Posts, 1079 Comments
Comment posted by John&Patty Benway on May 22, 2013 at 1:48 PM
Very nice Wayne, you definitely caught some nice light, along with comp and color, good eye, i like this very much. Beautifully done.
John & Patty
Registered on May 12, 2006, 626 Posts, 8700 Comments
Comment posted by Barb Pflaum on May 22, 2013 at 3:30 PM
Excellent comp and beautiful colors! I love the backlighting and the bg.
Registered on January 14, 2009, 316 Posts, 2724 Comments