Leaf Jam

I really like the angles, the colors and the textures of the wet leaves.

Intriguing. I feel a bit unbalanced as I look at this. (I know some would say I'm always unbalanced, but I'm not talking about that type of unbalanced, if you know what I mean.) The desaturated colors make the remaining color look precarious. This has a very arty feel to it.

Tony and Barbara,
Thanks for your comments. Tony, I think I understand how it seems unbalanced as it is a bit of an unusual angle. I wish I had taken more time with it but in reality I my shooting location was pretty restricted. Arty, that's a good thing right, LOL.

I do like the leafs, there's something about the way they're lit that is really nice. I saw this earlier today and thought it was interesting, and I definitely like it more the second time that I've spent some time looking at it. Very intriguing image.

Dale, great eye on selective what to desaturate!

Excellent work Dale! The water looks great - removing all color was a good idea.

Dale,

I see this is your first post. Welcome to NPN and the ES&S Gallery! I'm so glad I opened this because to be honest, the thumbnail didn't look all that appealing. But now I see the color treatment more obviously and I think you've succeeded quite nicely in that regard - and yes, a bit artsy! Granted, not the most attractive cluster of leaves, but I think with your chosen viewpoint, the diagonals and your color treatment, I think this is quite excellent actually. I like this very much.

welcome aboard. We look forward to your participation and thank you for your comments already!

Lon

What a cool subject! I love the comp--very edgy.
I have a slightly different take on the sat issue: to me, it looks too intentional or forced. Ive seen way too many photos with the selective saturation trick--usually you see it with flowers but autumn leaves are another common one--it's become a bit cliche and gimmicky to me. IMHO--the last thing you want here is for this to look cliche. The very strength of this is it's very 'natural' or as-found look. The selective sat here is counterproductive IMO--personally id leave whatever color there was intact, or slightly desturated so its not so obvious. Just my take.

Stan,
Thanks for your comments. I agree about selective saturation being a gimmick. I may have overstated the amount of color I removed from the water. When I looked back at the raw file the only color I could see in the water was from a submerged leaf just above and to the left of the leaf group. I did enhance the leaf group somewhat so I'm partially guilty but sometimes nature can look more photoshopped than it really is.

Very true...
I was also probably biased by your admission that you desturated--with a second look this doesnt look as 'obvious' as it did on the first look. I think it probably just needs a real minor tweaking. Depends on your target audience, of course.