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"Nature's first green is gold, / Her hardest hue to hold."
"Nature's first green is gold, / Her hardest hue to hold."
Bear_Music


Photograph Information Photographer's Comments
Challenge: Gold II (Basic Editing)
Collection: Challenges
Camera: Canon EOS-5D
Lens: Canon EF 100mm f/2.8L Macro IS USM
Location: Harwich Port, MA USA
Date: May 7, 2011
Aperture: f/2.8
ISO: 200
Shutter: 1/800
Date Uploaded: May 7, 2011

 An opening leafbud on a nearby tree, shot in the golden hour before twilight. Title quote from Robert Frost: "Nothing Gold Can Stay"

Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

Processing is relatively minimal; in ACR, WB shift a little to the warm side, and clarity slider moved way to the left for the misty effect. Since this was shot at f/2.8 on the 100mm macro, there's almost no real sharpness in the image anyway, intentionally; I wanted the misty effect. The image was simplified further in Topaz Detail. Hot spot on leaf muted with selective color.

The framing was actually the hardest part, finding an angle to shoot at that had good foreground bokeh and at the same time natural vignetting at the top.

I think this is very soft and lovely, but realistically I expect a 5.4 or 5.5 score...

Statistics
Place: 19 out of 98
Avg (all users): 5.8564
Avg (commenters): 7.6667
Avg (participants): 5.4255
Avg (non-participants): 5.9871
Views since voting: 3489
Views during voting: 337
Votes: 202
Comments: 7
Favorites: 0

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AuthorThread
 05/17/2011 10:52:34 PM
Soft and lovely, indeed. A very graceful image.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 Comments Made During the Challenge
05/16/2011 01:49:07 AM
very sweet and gentle
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/14/2011 04:35:45 PM
One of my favorites so far. I really like what you have done here. The colors and the OOF flower work perfectly together.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/13/2011 04:22:54 PM
Beautiful range of golds, and lovely soft focus. One of my favourites in this challenge.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/12/2011 01:25:59 PM
This is really unique. DOF is almost non existent, but it really works
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/12/2011 05:29:33 AM
well done, good use of lighting, nice composition.
  Photographer found comment helpful.
 05/11/2011 04:28:53 AM
lovely softness throughout
  Photographer found comment helpful.


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