Total judging points: 22
Judge's Comments:
1. Sharp, bright colors against a subdued background create impact in this very good image. The leaf stems jutting out of the right end of the group of floating leaves could be cloned for a stronger image. Cropping out the leaves on the top and right perimeters of this image might improve the image.
2. I love the tonality of this image: the warm, luminous colors that evoke the ambience of autumn. And had it been possible to isolate just the central sweetgum leaf in the center, this would have been a knockout shot. As composed in this rendering, however, it’s difficult to pick out a single subject. While the central leaf calls out to be the star of the show, the leaf clutter adjacent to it is a significant distraction.
Had there been the opportunity to do so, I might have looked for a similar leaf that was more isolated, or perhaps just nudged this one into an open stretch of water before photographing it. I might also have adjusted the polarizer (if used) to knock down some of the glare on the highlights, or tone down the highlights just a bit in post.