Photo: Leafy Sunset 6

[1]

A stately orange sunset in my yard is the backdrop for silhouetted leaves of an American sycamore tree [2]. Some of the leaves have been chewed by bugs; as you can see on the left. This only adds to the beauty, of course. There are even some raindrops on the leaves, left over from the storms earlier that day. I didn’t notice those till way after the shoot. This is the pinnacle of the Leafy Sunset series [3], trailing fifteen months after the fifth entry.

Buy a 4*6 copy for $0.95 (USA only). Lustre finish. After adding, go to your shopping cart [4].

Canon Rebel XTi [5], EFS 18-55mm [6], 1/40, F3.5, 18mm, ISO200, 2007-08-31T19:52:43-04, 2007-08-31_23h52m43

Source image [7]. It was a challenge to get the colors and light gradations just right, but it was worth it for the result. As you can see from the original, I underexposed to keep the sunset’s highlights from being clipped in the red channel, knowing that the leaves would be pure black anyway. I finished this up in editing, by bringing up the colors without any clipping, and I made a shift from red to burnt orange, which I find more appealing, as is more easily printed.

More of the Leafy Sunset series [3].

Free high-res stock image [8].