Week 21: Before and After

The rapidly disappearing autumn leaves are looking very ragged.

There’s a frailty about them that’s synonymous with aging.

As we age we all become more frail and autumn leaves remind me of that.

Autumn heading full-tilt into winter.

I’ll miss the leaves when they’re gone.

On these grey and overcast days their colourfulness

adds a blast of sunshine to the day.

Very necessary in the chill morning air.

It was the chill in my fingers that affected the focus in this first image I shot.

The camera was on auto-everything but even an auto-everything

camera needs a steady hand for a focused image.

I’d wanted the torn leaves and their fragility to really stand out.

And they didn’t.

They’re dull and show no semblance of life.

I warmed up the fingers before I took the second shot.

And upped the ISO a fraction.
I was much happier with the second image.

This first image I took of the mushroom was ok, but there was a lot of extraneous

background detail that didn’t need to be there.

It also didn’t show the colour of the mushroom as well as I’d have liked.

In the second image I’d reduced the aperture,

got down and dirty on my knees and moved in closer.

There’s more mood to the image and more colour.

There's always room for improvement and I love that this challenge is

encouraging me to think more about how and why I photograph what I do.

“I’ve learned that I still have a lot to learn.”

~ Maya Angelou