Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Project MCP: Fall Leaves

nibbled by Teckelcar
nibbled, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.
The third Project MCP photography challenge for October was "Fall Leaves."

Now back in Vermont this would be a snap, a friend of mine from high school has been posting on Facebook wonderful shots of fall foliage. However I'm in central Virginia and I can't magically transport myself up north. I have to wait for the far more subdued palate that nature uses around here later on in the season (we are roughly three weeks behind). Add in the dreary wet weather I haven't been able to do much until now.

Autumn by Teckelcar
Autumn, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.
The first two pictures I took during Rebecca's soccer practice. It was late afternoon and the sun was at just the right angle to add a wonderful luminosity to the leaves. I sent Rebecca on ahead so  could slowly meander over to her practice field, taking pictures without an impatient 11 year old by my side.

Of the two I think the second one is my favorite. I like how I got the picture depth just right, the focus is just on the spray of leaves in the foreground. The other picture captured interesting details in the leaf, you can see a small area where insects have nibbled away leaving a filigree of veins.

I am so glad I remembered to grab my camera on my way out the door. The weather is perfect and I got an inkling this morning during the dog walk that I should keep my camera handy.

fallen by Teckelcar
fallen, a photo by Teckelcar on Flickr.
The final picture here is from that walk this morning. I stuffed my cell phone in my pocket just in case Nate, who was home sick, needed to know where I was. He never did call, but I did use my phone to take this picture. The contrast of the bright orange leaf on the black road really caught my eye. I also like the shadow cast by the leaf and the slight curl to the edge. The picture is far from perfect, but considering it's from my basic smart phone it is pretty darn good.

All three are straight out of the camera with the very tiny exception of the image rotation of the middle picture. No cropping, sharpening, or color correction was needed. I was able to compose my shots in the viewfinder and present them as is.

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