I have been following the beautiful and slow progression of Spring 2025. My favorite site is the buds on my young Gingko tree. Several days ago tiny leaves, rolled up like Spring Rolls, began to unfurl. Capturing the scene proved challenging. The closeup shot I envisioned called for a macro lens which has a shallow depth of field. The sky was overcast, and a strong wind blew in gales. Both conditions called for a wide open aperture and fast shutter speed. After much experimenting I settled on a hand-held Canon R5 set to aperture priority f11, 1/125 sec (set by the camera), auto ISO 6400. I Imported the image into LightRoom Classic, cropped, performed tone and presence adjustments, masked the background sky and adjusted its temperature, and manually denoised.
5 comments posted
Pamela Hoaglund
You have captured an interesting bit of spring arriving. You have an excellent eye for finding the small miracles in nature. Your persistence paid off in capturing this leaf bud as it opens. I think it is acceptably sharp. Your treatment of the background helps set off the bud. Well done. Posted: 04/08/2025 22:37:53
Judith Lesnaw
Many thanks Pamela. Posted: 04/09/2025 13:40:59
Tom Brott
This is a good image of the budding branch which is something that we don't get to observe here in South Florida. It appears that the leaf portion of the bud is good and sharp with correct coloring. The depth of field is hard to get precise as there are so many areas and different levels. I am wondering if a manual sharpening of the flower/fruit portions of the bud may help. I also feel you handled the background well. Under the conditions you stated, I believe your camera/lens settings are good. Catching a moving object due to wind is very difficult and with 1/125 sec you managed it pretty well. Posted: 04/10/2025 20:10:20
Ally Green
A very unique and imaginative image and love the title! I can feel the bud wanting to burst open. You did well to capture this image under your weather conditions. In post i like how you changed the background to compliment the bud. Posted: 04/13/2025 20:13:12
Sharon Prislipsky
Once again you have found beauty - and art - in the smallest of nature details. It appears to me that you have sharp detail in the center folds, but the focus falls off somewhat at the edges. I think Tom's suggestion about doing some manual sharpening is spot on. I am curious about your lens choice for this image. Posted: 04/20/2025 19:31:26
