American Chestnut Study

Gallery: FloraPosted October 18, 2016172 views7 comments

We are fortunate enough out here to be sufficiently isolated that a few old chestnut trees are blight free. The two oldest in the state are at a cemetery within 10 miles of my home. I paid them a visit this morning and collected some of the leaves, burs and nuts to try to do some studies. I threw in a few other leaves just to add some accent points. I'll probably do another version when things dry out a bit.

5DIII, EF28-70 f/2.8L @ 70 mm, tripod & cable release with live view for focusing, f/22, 2 sec, iso 200, aperture priority, pattern metering. Processed in LR5 & CS6. Taken at 1:41 PM just inside our open garage door (it was raining pretty hard out there).

Comments and criticisms are very welcome.

Thanks,

Comments

7 comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on October 19, 2016 at 12:40 AM

I like this arrangement with the focal point in the upper left, and I especially like all the seeds.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by Michael Lowe on October 19, 2016 at 12:58 AM

Nice shot. Great array of interesting elements. Small nit would like to see a polariser used to cut down the glare on the leaves.

Registered on February 11, 2004, 777 Posts, 5252 Comments

Comment posted by scott lanz on October 19, 2016 at 6:35 AM

I also like the arrangment, Dennis. Whenever I try to arrange something like this, it looks too arranged, but this looks very natural. Agree with Michael that glare is a minor detraction.

Registered on November 14, 2003, 840 Posts, 12902 Comments

Comment posted by Allen Brooks on October 19, 2016 at 11:11 AM

For something arranged, this looks very natural. I like the color palette and detail in the leaves. Good job. Looking forward to your next version.

Registered on July 27, 2011, 262 Posts, 2597 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on October 19, 2016 at 3:40 PM

Dennis: Reminds me of the work of Ken Smith so take that as a high compliment. Using a polarizer is a great way to tame the leaf glare so you might play around with that the next time. Very nicely staged and composed. =))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by Barb Pflaum on October 19, 2016 at 8:44 PM

Great comp and beautiful fall colors! The whole arrangement is very nice and my favorite parts of the image are the seeds lined up on the yellow-brown leaf near the urc and the small orange leaf near the lrc.

Registered on January 14, 2009, 316 Posts, 2724 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on October 22, 2016 at 10:18 AM

Other than the glare from the leaves, which is minimal, a well composed "randomness".

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments