Palm Leaves in Myakka River State Park 1
February 14, 2018
This sabal palm leaf was floating in the water of Clay Gully, a tributary of the Myakka River. A polarizing filter on the camera lens and a little tweaking with Color Efex Pro in processing darkened the water and added to the leaf’s glow, which was substantial enough in the first place to draw attention.
Romancing Reality 
This is a stunner!!
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February 14, 2018 at 8:54 AM
Thanks, Clare. It is a bit manipulated, but not beyond recognition. It was pretty dramatic as is.
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February 14, 2018 at 8:02 PM
My favorite of this series (so far)!
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February 14, 2018 at 9:14 AM
Glad you like it, Ken. The polarizer was definitely my friend for this one.
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February 14, 2018 at 8:03 PM
Blue and gold is always such a nice combination…and with a bright green accent at the bottom! A really nice photo in so many ways…
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February 14, 2018 at 9:53 AM
Thank you, Mic. I’ve been fussing more than I usually do with some of my photographs lately.
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February 14, 2018 at 8:06 PM
You’re welcome, Linda. “Fussing”? I associate that with non-productive worry and activity; that isn’t reflected in any photographs that you have posted. Maybe in those that you gave up on and didn’t post?…I have a lot of experience with those myself! 🙂 Wishing you a fuss free day…
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February 15, 2018 at 9:42 AM
What I mean about fussing with photographs is taking them from Lightroom into Photoshop and/or something in the Nik collection after I’ve done all I can in Lightroom and think there might be more I can do. In this case I added color contrast in Color Efex Pro, then went back into Lightroom and added a negative vignette. Sometimes I clone out a distracting element. It all feels like cheating, and I have to remind myself that Ansel Adams did a lot of such fussing (albeit in the much harder, darkroom, way) with his photographs, and I don’t think we regard him as a cheater.
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February 15, 2018 at 10:03 AM
Oh, ok. A different interpretation of fussing. I have a friend who doesn’t do any photo post-processing. He claims to just wants what the camera sees. Well, the camera sees nothing. It records light level variations on some medium according to a technical specification written by a group of engineers to work pretty well under average conditions. I want to take a little more ownership in my photographs than that. As you said, Ansel did. And I am pretty sure you do too. So I will change my parting wish to: Have an enjoyable and guilt free day fussing with your photos! 🙂
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February 15, 2018 at 10:44 AM
That’s a lovely wish, Mic. Thank you. I have had people ask me if I “photoshop” my photographs. By that I think they mean something like “create images without regard for the subject photographed and only to make a pretty picture.” I give them a reply similar to what you just said. I don’t want the camera making all the decisions, especially when the camera can get it wrong for whatever reason, including my poor judgement in exposure. To return to your wish: Fussing with my photographs is always enjoyable, but guilt free is another matter—as I suspect you know or you wouldn’t have included it in your wish.
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February 15, 2018 at 10:58 AM
Oh, but I misunderstood about the guilt-free part! You are still talking about the guilt over fussing, and I have moved on to big guilt, the kind induced by dirty dishes and untended paperwork. Now that’s guilt!
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February 15, 2018 at 11:01 AM
HaHa! Yes, Yes. Just about photo fussing. I have lots of the big guilt that you describe…I haven’t been able to talk my way out of that as easily.
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February 15, 2018 at 11:47 AM
Nice!!! Feels like a cosmic starburst.
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February 14, 2018 at 1:21 PM
Thanks, Alan, for the compliment and the simile.
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February 14, 2018 at 8:13 PM
Just beautiful, Linda, and it seems the adjustments you made were just the right amount. The angle of the leaf is just right, too. I love the conversation about fussing and cheating above, Mic’s comments are great. As for the guilt, well, that’s a tough one, isn’t it? 🙂
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February 15, 2018 at 7:05 PM
Thank you, Lynn. . . . The dirty dishes do eventually get washed, but the paperwork is another matter. It’s easier to put off, especially if I put the piles where I can’t see them when I’m at the computer. But I do know they’re there, hence the guilt. I’m always happy when I finally look at the pile to find some items that are past their deadlines. Well, often happy. Sometimes it’s ohhhhh, nooooo. People who know I go to the gym five days a week think I’m disciplined. Hah.
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February 15, 2018 at 8:38 PM
What a great splay of colour that is. For a microsecond as I saw the little thumbnail in the Reader it looked like a starburst firework. And then I realized I was wrong. The strength of the image is that the little twigs close to the right edge of the image could easily be a distraction, but they aren’t because the main focus is so strong. I enjoyed the comments too – Ansel Adams would have absolutely loved the digital and the possibilities of ‘ fussing’ over an image to extract the last 1% from it.
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February 16, 2018 at 4:56 AM
Thank you, Andy. I often tone down bright greens in my photographs if they aren’t what I want people to focus on. It never occurred to me to do that to this image—so I guess you’re right! Comments are a great feature of WordPress, I think. I love it when they turn into a real conversation.
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February 16, 2018 at 8:50 PM