Yellow leaves
Maple tree in the final yellowish color phase before the leaves fall off. I used a Hoya circular polarizer to reduce sky haze by 50%, this enhanced the saturation of the blue linearly polarized component of scattered sunlight . I also positioned myself and the polarizer angle to boost leaf color by eliminating the white specular reflection component. It can be quite tricky to optimize both polarizer angle and the camera x-y-z position. For non-DSLR users the LCD viewfinders automatic gain impedes the determination of optimum polarization angle because the luminosity does not change as you rotate the filter. Polarized sunglasses were used to find the 'sweet' spot because sunglasses have a very wide field of view, are easier to rotate and allow you to spot and eliminate specular reflection glints because these are often very small but numerous and very difficult to see on a small LCD screen. The strong blue color gradient is due to preferential linear polarization of scattered sunlight with a maximum at 90 degrees from the Sun projected on the sky. To reduce noise I used the lowest ISO setting and a tripod to increase exposure time to compensate for the light loss in the polarizer. For more examples of exotic sky effects consult the Polarizer Pool.
-Added to the Cream of the Crop pool as most favorited.
Comments and faves
Screen Door Slams, Antti K., official station, eduargon2002, and 57 other people added this photo to their favorites.
m.s. shutterbug (61 months ago | reply)
Wow, spectacular colour!!
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JCE Photography (61 months ago | reply)
this is more than beautiful
nathascha (61 months ago | reply)
Beautiful colors!
Antti K. (61 months ago | reply)
This is freakin' amazing shot!
FraserScot (61 months ago | reply)
Great colour
official station (61 months ago | reply)
Spectacular colors. Congrats.
So, that "Hoya circular polarizer" - it's not a Photoshop filter is it?
// views: 50
jpctalbot (61 months ago | reply)
official station: This photo has not been photoshopped, except for a slightly higher saturation slider. A polarizer is a real device you attach to a camera (see the Polarizer Pool). I have added more detail as to the exact polarizer optimization procedure in the description above.
Delay Tactics (61 months ago | reply)
Cool colours, so rich, but spoilt by technical data!
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jpctalbot (61 months ago | reply)
Delay Tactics: A quotation from Richard P. Feynman might clear things up a bit as to why art and science are not incompatible :
"I have a friend who is an artist .... he will hold up a flower and say, 'Look how beautiful it is,' and I will agree,.... he says -'you see, I as an artist can see how beautiful this is, but you as a scientist, oh, take this all apart and it becomes a dull thing.' And I think that he's kind of nutty. First of all, the beauty that he sees is available to other people and to me, too ... at the same time I see much more about the flower than he sees. I can imagine the cells in there, the complicated actions inside which also have a beauty ... also the process, the fact that the colors in the flower evolved in order to attract insects to pollinate it is interesting ... All kinds of interesting questions which shows that a science knowledge only add to the excitement and mystery and the awe of a flower. It only adds, I don't understand how it subtracts."
official station (61 months ago | reply)
Thanks for the details - very interesting. I'm definitely going to get me a polarizer when I get the chance...
lemontwist301 (60 months ago | reply)
Beautiful! :)
Márcia_Marton (60 months ago | reply)
Wonderful...
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rabenaas (60 months ago | reply)
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Mandana (on and off) (60 months ago | reply)
gorgeous shot!
NaturesFinest
This is really one of Natures Finest!!>
~M~Chelle & her view*** (60 months ago | reply)
wonderful!!
NaturesFinest
This is really one of Natures Finest!!>
Prof. Jas. Mundie (60 months ago | reply)
Don't really care how it was achieved - but it's a lovely image. Great work.
This Image is one of my favorites on One Of A Kind pool
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Ann Christine Dennison (60 months ago | reply)
This Image is one of my favorites on One Of A Kind pool
Visited via 'One of a kind'.
Salva del Saz (59 months ago | reply)
Beautiful colors and light!
flavia2012 (59 months ago | reply)
excellent colours and light! great shot indeed!
andy the hobo (59 months ago | reply)
beautiful colour
artefelino (59 months ago | reply)
Preciosos tonos, muy bonito.
gillesC (58 months ago | reply)
magnifique contraste
Fatima2t (58 months ago | reply)
really beautiful shot!! everything is soo perfect!! love it!
TPorter2006 (58 months ago | reply)
Awesome image, obviously a fellow leaf peeper!
nhanhauzinha (57 months ago | reply)
Congratulations!
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rusty_on_flickr (56 months ago | reply)
Astonishing colors here.
Bruno Misseeuw (56 months ago | reply)
Nice colors well done !
K Kay (52 months ago | reply)
Beautiful colors. Very nice reminder of the season!
paulkhd (50 months ago | reply)
Nice colours.
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Menetnashté (49 months ago | reply)
looks beautiful!
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niceguy8621 (46 months ago | reply)
Great Photo. May I ask which Hoya Circular Polarizer you used (normal, double coated...etc)? Thanks
jpctalbot (46 months ago | reply)
niceguy8621:
HOYA SUPER QUALITY CIR-POLARIZING
JAPAN DL
diameter 58 mm
PITCH 0.75
Multicoated only on the surface facing the camera.
Subject facing surface is uncoated. (too bad!)
UPC 024066016775
TravelMuse... (45 months ago | reply)
daiseedeb (44 months ago | reply)
oh such happy glorious colors!
dd
Come and join the group or please submit if you are already a yummymember! www.flickr.com/groups/thinkyummythoughts/!
This picture would be perfect for it!
mlhradio (4 months ago | reply)
Congratulations on receiving more than 10,000 views -- that's quite impressive! Now that you've reached this milestone, you might want to consider graduating this photograph from the 'Views: 5000' group to the 'Views: 10000' group, which can be found here: www.flickr.com/groups/views10000/
Once again, congratulations and hopefully your photos will receive many more views in the future! Reminder: Photos should only be in one 'Views:xx' group at a time. (This is an automatic message posted to all items in the 'Views: 5000' group that receive more than 10,000 views. There is no need to reply to this message.)