Leaf in Suspension

[480sparky]

I've been wanting to take this image for years, and tonight was the perfect time to try it. With a plethora of possible leaves laying out in the yard, it just took some time to go out and find the perfect subject. It had started to rain this afternoon, so my possible subjects were quite pliable still and not easy to crumble. Once I found a leaf that fit my vision, I took it inside and placed it flat inside a towel to try out.

I then cleaned off two sheets of glass I had mad for just such purposes, and put a small spacer between them to keep the leaf from being totally flattened. I wanted a bit of texture and contrast, and merely taking the bulk of the curl out of the leaf was just what I was looking at. The black background is merely a black bedsheet about 2 feet behind the glass/leaf.

I then stood the glass up on edge on the table, and lit it with two strobes at very oblique angles. Probably 85° on either side of the leaf. The lights were modified using some scrap cardboard taped to the reflectors, creating 1" vertical slits. I did this to accentuate the texture that remained in the leaf be having the gap between the glass plates.

I used a Nikon D600 and a 200/4 Ai, focused at it's minimum of 6', which didn't quite fill the frame but was close enough to keep cropping to a minimum.

Shot in raw, and converted in post with Capture NX2. Final clean-up using GIMP 2.6

I didn't realize it until I started editing it how much it resembles........... a tree.

I wanted to create the appearance of a leaf suspended in mid-air, not quite totally flattened out, and with more contrast than usual. I'm rather happy with the results, but would love to hear your comments.

 

[otherprof]

I've been wanting to take this image for years, and tonight was the perfect time to try it. With a plethora of possible leaves laying out in the yard, it just took some time to go out and find the perfect subject. It had started to rain this afternoon, so my possible subjects were quite pliable still and not easy to crumble. Once I found a leaf that fit my vision, I took it inside and placed it flat inside a towel to try out.

I then cleaned off two sheets of glass I had mad for just such purposes, and put a small spacer between them to keep the leaf from being totally flattened. I wanted a bit of texture and contrast, and merely taking the bulk of the curl out of the leaf was just what I was looking at. The black background is merely a black bedsheet about 2 feet behind the glass/leaf.

I then stood the glass up on edge on the table, and lit it with two strobes at very oblique angles. Probably 85° on either side of the leaf. The lights were modified using some scrap cardboard taped to the reflectors, creating 1" vertical slits. I did this to accentuate the texture that remained in the leaf be having the gap between the glass plates.

I used a Nikon D600 and a 200/4 Ai, focused at it's minimum of 6', which didn't quite fill the frame but was close enough to keep cropping to a minimum.

Shot in raw, and converted in post with Capture NX2. Final clean-up using GIMP 2.6

I didn't realize it until I started editing it how much it resembles........... a tree.

I wanted to create the appearance of a leaf suspended in mid-air, not quite totally flattened out, and with more contrast than usual. I'm rather happy with the results, but would love to hear your comments.

Beautiful image. I appreciate the tour from idea to execution.