blood w/ REPOST

Hi Reed. Yes, that's the first thing I thought - the leaf is too soft, making it, for me, an 'almost, but not quite' image. I would also like to see it larger in the frame, and not so centered.

I like this. The motion in the water almost makes it seem as if there are 2 separate areas of focus-the leaf in the foreground and the trees in the background. I'd love to see what his point and shoot did with it. Sometimes I'm quite impressed with their results.

I think it's a good starting point for the eye to enter the shot. Nice find.

I like the bottom half of the image. I don't think the top half adds much.

This looks like a fun capture Reed. I would of tried it too. I would have to go with not centering also.

I agree with Angela, Reed. The OOF rocks under water interrupted by the small bit of emergent rock and leaf in focus make this seem almost like a composite of two images. The effect of two disjunct areas of focus in the extreme foreground and in the background create a striking effect. The leaf and rock are plenty sharp for me. Very cool image.

Reed you have captured in an image how our mind works, I'll explain. Coming upon the scene your eyes are drawn to the color of the leaf on the rock, then instinct demands you to look into the distance especially the dark area the creek is coming out of. It's not a traditional image or comp so your going to get many positive responses and plenty of critique. Focusing on the fact this appears to be two images, with the leaf on the rock being the better. Well, I've fallen itno that trap as well I do want to see just the rock and leaf too, but I appreciate what you done here as well. the leaf and rock existed in this enviroment and your image shows this well I might add.

I like this Reed. The red leaf is a nice focal point and leads the eye naturally through the frame. I do wish the trees in the BG had more color, but that's obviously out of your control!

Thanks for all the insightful comments. Here is a 50% crop of just the leaf and the rocks of the stream. I like this too, but for different reasons than the one with the horizon. Thoughts?

Spectacular use of wide angle (I like the centering too), although I find little interest in the land above. Might be interesting to see this cropped to just the stream.