Here is the group that came for Thanksgiving: Rick and family from Wisconsin, Susan & Jon from Minneapolis, and Barb & Jack from Saint Cloud.
I was looking at some pictures in my photo-database, and came across the following picture.
Six of my eleven grandchildren are pictured sitting on a bench at the lake home. Of course two have not been born yet when the picture was taken, so they have an excuse. But notice the lighting and the brilliant color in the picture. It is always nice having the grandchildren around.
Today I would like to show you some steps a photographer goes through in getting the picture that is in his mind's eye. I had pictured a nice red maple leaf lying on dark green evergreen foliage. The chances of finding such a scene is very unlikely, but it is easily arranged. My operating rule in photography is "Don't take a picture, make a picture!" With this in mind, I found a red maple leaf and placed it upon some evergreen foliage.
This is the first step in creating the picture. The colors aren't great and the composition isn't the best, but it's a start.
With regards to the composition, I arranged the leaf in the vertical position to see what effect that would have. It seems empty; something more is needed. Perhaps a second leaf of the same kind, but slightly smaller would be what I had in mind.
Here is the picture with the slightly smaller, second red maple leaf, one arranged in the almost vertical position and the other arranged in the almost horizontal position; and now I have the composition that I like. Of course the leaves have some imperfections but that is easily fixed with some post-processing. Also, cropping of the photograph is important to getting the best look. Then, the colors can be enhanced, the contrast increased, and perhaps a vignette. All this is easily accomplished with Adobe's Photoshop and Lightroom.
Here is the final picture, not a photo-journalistic picture, but an expression of art.
