Hi Sylvia, as soon as I opened this photo I cropped it… then I cropped it again. The first crop removed about 10 percent from the bottom of the image, the second removed about 10 percent from the right. Then, about a minute later, I decided I could crop it again, taking off the tops of the leaves at the top of the frame and the very bottom of the leaf at the bottom of the frame. (See my cropped version of your image below.)
Why crop so tight? You hit on it in your email when you mentioned your fascination with the water droplets. With a tighter crop our attention moves from the leaves to the droplets.
Inexperienced photographers are often nervous about cropping. Sure, many images work well with some space around the subject, but sometimes you need to help a viewer see what you see.
I’d like to see you have another go at this idea. This time, get closer and do your cropping in camera.
Here’s a challenge. Try going out really early on a foggy morning with a tripod. Set your camera to shutter priority (S or Tv) with an ISO of 100. Choose the slowest shutter speed possible – hopefully 10 seconds or more.
Now here is where things get tricky. Fire the shutter, walk behind the leaves and start painting them with light from a small LED torch or a flash.
Be bold and adventurous and see where these ideas can take you.
Tree Lights: Image Doctor's edited version
