I’ve never done a lot of macro or close-up photography. That’s probably because I am almost always dissatisfied with my results. But, every now and then, everything comes together, and I get an image I like. The close-up of this leaf is an example of one of those times.
After I had photographed the red autumn leaves, I began walking around the area to see if there was anything else that piqued my interest. On the way back to my truck, I noticed an area where leaves had fallen from the trees and were covering the ground. I thought I might be able to find a nice grouping of colorful leaves to photograph, so I walked over to take a look.
Unfortunately, all the leaves had turned their typical post-peak brown. Even if I had found a leaf that still had some color, it would have been virtually unnoticeable among all the brown.
As I turned around to leave, I noticed this one huge leaf lying on the ground all to itself. Stepping over to it, I became fascinated with the various lines that were formed by its vein system.
The equipment I would normally use to do close-up photography, specifically my set of extension tubes that allow me to focus closer than I could with just a lens, was in my truck, and I didn’t feel like going back to get it. So, I decided to use what I had with me (camera, 24-70mm lens, and tripod) to get the best picture I could.
I set up the camera and tripod directly over the leaf. To maximize depth of field, which was critical for this shot, I adjusted the camera so that it was as parallel as possible with the leaf. This, combined with the smallest aperture on the lens, would give me all the depth of field I could get with the equipment I had.
I wanted the leaf to fill the frame. Zooming my lens to its longest focal length, 70mm, almost achieved that, but there were still a few areas where the ground beneath the leaf showed through. I worked to reposition the camera slightly and eliminate as much of the ground as possible. That was about all I could do at that particular moment, and I figured I could out anything else later in Photoshop.
Looking at the leaf on the camera’s LCD screen (I’ve been using the camera’s Live View mode almost exclusively over the last few weeks. I’ll write more about my experience with that feature at a later date.), I began to notice all the fine intricate details and patterns I hadn’t seen before. How smaller veins branched off the main ones and how they seemed to create what looked like small scales like you would find on an old snake skin. It was truly an amazing experience.
Processing the file, I actually made very few adjustments to the picture. I added some contrast, tweaked texture and clarity, and added a little vibrance. Then, in Photoshop, I applied some sharpening. That was it.
The biggest change I made was to crop the image slightly to eliminate the ground that was showing through in a few parts of the frame to create this final picture.