I always aspire to find and photograph subjects that most other people would walk by and never notice. If you’ve spent any time at all watching YouTube photography videos or reading photography blogs (like this one!), you will, at some point, hear or read the photographer comment that images are everywhere, photographic subjects are all around us, or some similar variation. Of course, the comment is always accompanied by an amazing photograph of some common, everyday item or scene that leaves me asking myself why I wouldn’t have seen the same opportunity had I been there.
But, every so often, a situation occurs in which I see a photographic opportunity that no one else seems to notice. And, this leaf is one of those examples.
Walking into work a couple of mornings ago, I spotted this single leaf lying on the pavement in the parking lot, and I was surprised to see it in such good shape. But, I continued on as I came up with all sorts of excuses to not stop: it was just a leaf lying in the parking lot, I didn’t have my camera gear, and a hundred other things.
But, I kept thinking about the shape and color of that leaf. After a few steps, I stopped, turned around, and returned to the leaf. Pulling out my phone, I framed the leaf, pressed the button, and captured an image.
When I looked at the picture, it was very obvious that it was a photograph of a leaf lying on pavement. Not very attractive at all. Making matters worse, the image was captured in JPEG format (I take so few shot with my phone, I don’t know how to switch to RAW.) which really limited the adjustments I could make. But, I knew, if nothing else, I wanted to darken the background so the pavement would not be obvious.
Using the very rudimentary photo editing app on my phone, I was able to saturate the color of the leaf and darken the background significantly. The end result was this image of a leaf that appears to be suspended in space and surrounded by stars.
While there is nothing particularly stunning about this photograph, I rather like it. And, it reinforces the idea for me that there are amazing photographic subjects all around me. I just have to open my eyes and my mind to them.