Vine Maple

Igor,

I never tire of images, no matter what the season! ;-)  A fine autumn image.  I like the spacing of the leaf clusters - open enough to give a glimpse of the trunks and bg vegetation - which btw, the dof is appropriate for this scene as well - all the sharp focus on the leaves up front.

A bit late to go back... but I'm wondering if a Polarizer was used or available?  Personal choice as to whether or not one would want to mitigate the sheen on the leaves in the LR.  One of those observations that's minor and perhaps irrelevant. 

There's that errant bare tree protruding through, but it's also not a bother for me since it really just blends in and flows with the cluster of leaves and arrangement.

A pleasing autumn intimate indeed.

Lon

Lon,

A polarizer was not used on this image for the simple reason that I didn't have one at the time. I shoot a lot with the polarizer now and am pretty familiar with it's pros and cons. In this case I think it would have flattened the highlights somewhat and made the leaves look less wet. That's my theory, anyway, which I can't prove after the fact.

I do agree that the highlights in the tree trunk on the right seem a tad too bright. Thanks for pointing that out. I wouldn't have noticed.

Beautiful colors, but overall, I am really on the fence on this one. I find my eye drifting especially to the branches above and less to to the dark trunk highlights below rather than lingering in the colorful leaves. 

I always enjoy looking at autumn scenes any time of the year. I like this comp and it works much better in the larger view where I see more detail and the fine branches actually add for me. It feels like it is a rainy fall day and I'm quite enjoying that. Beautiful colors!

Nick Bristol
Lone Rock, WI.

I like the beautiful colors and the wet look, Igor. Really brings out the colors in a natural way. The entire image has a very earthy, natural beauty the nicely fills the entire frame. 

This is really nice work for this kind of subject..
Perfect DOF, just enough detail in the shadows, excellent realistic color and nice sharpness.
My only nit and a minor one is the portruding branch at the top.
I might try to clone out if possible.

Post all the autumn images you want, Igor. I never tire of viewing beautiful images, whatever time of the year. I am enjoying the way you filled the frame with the colorful leaves and kept the BG darker and less prominent; the perfect canvas. My only suggestion would be to try and tone down the brightness of the red leaves on the right just a touch. This will be a nice addition to your gallery.

Ed

This is a wonderful autumn leaf tapestry Igor, the DOF and dark shadows really make the leaves pop out here. The distinct clusters of leaves (especially the two red ones) really get the viewer's eye roving around this image. I do wish a polarizer had been used to reduce the sheen on the leaves to the right. I understand you not wanting to lose the highlights, but my personal taste would have been to polarize wet vegetation for overall saturation reasons. Also put me in the camp of cropping away most of the vertical branch at the center top. You can crop this distraction away while still retaining the framing effect of the tops leaves.

The collection of glowing colors and leaves look great, Igor.  The sheen on the leaves tells the story of a rainy day well.  For me, there's a sense of abstraction, that has me wishing the leaves in the center were brighter, then my eyes would roam the frame uniformly.  Right now, they mostly circle the edges.

This is excellent, Igor. I find the composition both balanced and pleasing. I can see a case to crop out that central branch at top but to my eyes it is not a deal breaker. Other than that processing looks spot-on to me.

Great colors and effective composition, Igor. It is nice so discover old images that now are better than when we took them. 

One of your very best Igor. An absolute thrill to view this photograph. 

I must say I am also amazed at the number of winning images you keep pulling out from your archives. Can't wait to see more.

After fall trips into Oregon and Washington the last two years. The vine maple has become possibly my favorite foliage for fall color! It has such an intense and diverse range of color. And it seems to be prolific on the Olympic Peninsula.
this is a beautiful example of that range of color. Looks pretty cohesive to me also. I like the heavier tree trunks looming in the shadows and filling the gaps. I do think the wetness and sheen lend an additional dynamic to the image.

Thank you for all the comments. 

The vine maple is also one of my favorite color subjects in the Cascades as well. That and the green moss that carpets trees and rocks in the wetter parts of the mountains. The vine maple starts to turn red in late August and there are all sorts of color phases before the leaves fall off. One of my favorites is when it's a mixture of red and green. The one to the left of this was pure yellow. It also grows in many environments that give you a range of backgrounds, such as the very dark lava flows. It just needs a good wet season to last through the summer. Otherwise the leaves curl up by the time fall arrives and don't look to hot.