Big Leaf Maple Glow

Gallery: LandscapePosted December 30, 2015189 views9 comments

Looks like this might be my last post of 2015, so this will be my parting shot. I'm getting low on postable images from our Yosemite trip, but still a few.... ;-)

Ok, so I'm quickly learning the shortcomings of focus stacking. Guess what? Leaves move in the wind.... although I knew motion is the death-knell for focus stacking, I did have a very calm few minutes to try and pull this off. Unfortuneately unders close inspection there's quite a few alighnment issues. The good news is, you can't really tell at web sizes, so I think I can get away with this one. One thing neat is that you can shoot fairly wide open to keep the bg soft, and then stack a few (or more) of these to get all the leaves sharp. Well, I only did 3 exposures so not everything front to back in the leaves is sharp, but close enough for government work, as the saying goes.

My goal was to highlight the backlighting of the leaves. The colors were in early stages of transition to fall colors, so still some green present. The bg was sufficiently out of focus, but I did add a touch more blur to soften a little more.

Let me know what you think. Comments, critique and suggestions always welcome!

Nikon D800E
Tamron 24-135mm @ 160mm
3-image stack @ f/6.3, ISO 400, 1/25th

Thanks for looking and Happy New Year!

Comments

9 comments

Comment posted by Dave Dillemuth on December 30, 2015 at 6:14 PM

Lon,
This is gorgeous. Really beautiful backlighting and very nice yellow-green tonality to the leaves. Composiiton and processing look flawless.

Registered on December 10, 2015, 104 Posts, 1112 Comments

Comment posted by Alberto Patiño on December 30, 2015 at 10:47 PM

I like it as it is, Lon. The glow in the lowermost leafs is especially beautiful. Can't really see the misalignment....

Registered on December 2, 2014, 278 Posts, 1736 Comments

Comment posted by Ed Lowe on December 30, 2015 at 10:50 PM

The focus stacking looks good in the web version and that soft backlighting is gorgeous, Lon. Great eye to spot this intimate scene. Happy New Year to you also.

Ed

Registered on February 7, 2004, 414 Posts, 7115 Comments

Comment posted by Chris Chamberlain on December 31, 2015 at 2:19 AM

Well, it looks amazing here! I think this is the solution to this kind of shot. For me, the dof was always a problem. The main reason I never really got a shot like this that I was happy with.
The back light, and blurred background are excellent!

Registered on March 13, 2007, 500 Posts, 8365 Comments

Comment posted by Roel Wijtmans on December 31, 2015 at 2:51 AM

Background blur looks really good indeed, as do the leaves with their subtle yet intense colors. Nice work! I spotted one alignment issue in the large version, such a pain to discover stuff like that upon coming home.... Focus stacking is indeed a great and versatile technique, but man, wind is really hell-bent on ruining our focus stacks!

Registered on September 30, 2012, 116 Posts, 2257 Comments

Comment posted by Igor Doncov on December 31, 2015 at 9:11 AM

A simple image that's very nicely done. I like the smaller version considerably more than the larger and I think that's due to the presence of a frame. The leaves are not as sharp as Preston's leaves tend to be but sharp enough. Actually, it's the 2 closest leaves that are a bit less sharper than the rest by a small amount but it's noticeable only if you really focus on that aspect.

Registered on November 22, 2014, 189 Posts, 2733 Comments

Comment posted by Igor Hoveijn on December 31, 2015 at 1:50 PM

The bunch of leaves coming in from the urc makes a pleasant composition. The colours of the backlit leaves are beautiful. From the tech specs it appears that you overstretched your lens :) My suggestion is to use an even longer lens and a larger aperture (no problem since you are focus stacking, disregarding the wind) in order to get even less and more blurred background. Only after looking very carefully at the larger version I can see some sharpness issues. What I like most about this image is that it shows the beauty of simple things, just a few leaves.

Registered on November 2, 2015, 18 Posts, 192 Comments

Comment posted by Lon Overacker on December 31, 2015 at 6:35 PM

Thank you for the comments everyone!

Igor and Igor, I agree with you on details, sharpness and alignment issues. Inspectin the full frame and you're right on all counts. The front 2 leaves are indeed softer than even the second tier if leaves and there are numerous alighnment issues throughout.

This won't see the print of day, but I think shows well on the web.

I'm still on a steep digital learning curve, but enjoying the process so far.

Happy New Year everyone. I may or may not post until next week as my wife and I are heading up to Yosemite on Saturday.

Lon

Registered on November 24, 2006, 521 Posts, 19147 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on January 3, 2016 at 10:13 PM

HI Lon

I always love to see images of leaves.... this one is no exception. the backlighting and color are beautifully captured.. i have no problem with the detail. even in real life , i hardly ever see perfectly sharp leaves. because of the wind. or because i never get close enough....

Albert Darmo
Canada.

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments