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a leaf falls loneliness

© Steve M. Harrington

a leaf falls loneliness

Uploaded: January 10, 2007 11:39:14

Description


This is a poem by my favorite poet, e e cummings. Here is the poem as he wrote it:
l(a
le
af
fa
ll
s)
one
l

iness

Comments

Steve M. Harrington January 10, 2007

I'm resubmitting this after adjustments to the composition and sharpening. Please give me your comments. #585736

Nadine A. Lewis January 10, 2007

OUTSTANDING, Steve!!! GORGEOUS color, AWESOME effects, & LOVE the leaf falling!!! Cool poem too!!! <>< #3804360

Lynne Morris January 10, 2007

Oh wow Steve this is gorgeous, love the colours, comp and efefcts, wonderful work! #3804606

Steve M. Harrington January 10, 2007

Thank you, Nadine and Lynne. You wouldn't believe some of the silly things I went through to get that leaf image! :)
Steve #3804806

Remi Trepanier January 10, 2007

What a georgeous Image Steve, perfect effect and colors. #3804870

Karen Slagle January 10, 2007

Wow, this is gorgeous, Steve. I love those deep, rich colors and the buzz is perfect... #3804957

Steve M. Harrington January 10, 2007

Thanks a lot, Remi and Karen. #3804987

Norman P. Banks January 10, 2007

I like it!!

The buzz filter is perfect for saturation Steve, as it enhances the colors and in the case of this image it gives depth with the bright center background and dark deeper woods around the edges.

Norm #3805137

Janine Russell level-deluxe January 10, 2007

Steve, great colors, detail, timing and effects. #3805266

Steve M. Harrington January 10, 2007

Thank you, Norm and Janine. I spent a couple weeks thinking of how to visually represent this poem. The Buzz filter proved to be quite useful because it allowed me to simplify the background enough to make the leaf stand out.
Steve #3805344

January 10, 2007

Very eye-catching and artistic. Neat representation. #3805502

David Pratt January 10, 2007

Steve, Well done, Color and compostions are wonderful. Saturation is perfect, I know how you like it. I love the single leaf falling. This is what caught my attention. This composition and the poem go perfectly together. Fantastic work Steve! #3805641

Steve M. Harrington January 10, 2007

Thanks very much, Kim and Dave. I flipped this image horizontally and was quite pleased with the change. I often flip my images just to see if the composition stands up well.
Steve #3805873

Beau Hudspeth Photography January 10, 2007

I think that the subject for BuZZing is awesome, but you look to have run in to the same issue I have in the past. That being: the image that was buzzed was too small to to start with.

What I have learned to do in order to produce the best over all image quality and clarity, is to enlarge the image I'm going to buzz (if it is under 2000 pixels on the small side) by at least 150% or as large as you can go w/o buzz giving you an 'out of RAM warning. What this does for you is allow for a higher number in the 'remove large' option that does not cause the color 'beedover' that you will get when buzzing a smaller image.

I hope that this info helps! Keep up the great shooting! #3806087

Steve M. Harrington January 11, 2007

Thanks for taking the time to comment, Beau. I have been using Simplifier One and I was aware of the impact of the filter, depending on file size. I think I know what you mean by "beedover," but I'm not positive. I guess you are referring to the number of pixels that are grouped together.

You've raised a question for me. Using Simplifier Two, if I set the Remove Large to the same size as Add Back Small, will the image change? I tried that on an image and couldn't see a difference, yet logic tells me there should be a change.

Steve #3808676

January 11, 2007

I love the image and the way the colors came through. It is a winner!! #3808984

Beau Hudspeth Photography January 11, 2007

By 'bead over' I mean the ares of one color that have been 'taken over' by another.

In your image above, there are part of the tree that has been 'taken over' by the blue of the sky. You will also see a lot of this happening in sky areas that have branches in them. The area between the branches will be a mixture of the branch color and the sky - the 'bleed over' color. Kinda like you bridged the area between branches with colored cellophane.

As for Simplify Two, you need to keep the Add Back Small to about a 1/10 or 1/8 of the Remove Large number to get a good effect. This works better on people then flora. It will add back eyes or reflections in eyes, and the like ... the small stuff that is lost in Simplifier One.

Hope that makes more sense. :) #3809036

Steve M. Harrington January 11, 2007

Thanks a lot for your nice comment, Bonita.

Beau, I learn something new every day, and you've made this day especially valuable. It's funny how we put up with stuff like the bead over because we think things like it are inevitable. Thank you for taking the time to explain this phenomenon to me. I will put this knowledge to good use.

Steve #3809701

Beau Hudspeth Photography January 12, 2007

All my pleasure ... #3810002

Carol Teal January 12, 2007

I love this Steve and would have loved to have been hiding behind a tree to see the silly things you went through. :) I like the single leaf falling, the colors and the buzz. You know, I loved e e cummings in high school. There was one photo in particular I loved but have since forgotten it. I will have to look it up now! #3811171

Steve M. Harrington January 12, 2007

Thanks again, Beau.

Carol, I had my wife dropping leaves in the backyard. This was worse than a failure: it led to accusations of incompetence in both photography and leaf dropping!
Finally, I was inspired to cheat and shot a leaf that was on our pool cover and went to Photoshop. :)

I too love cummings. I used to teach him years ago, and I still return to him often.

Steve #3811907

Kay Beausoleil January 12, 2007

Thanks for the memories, Steve! (English major, 1963) Your image is poetry, too and crafted as were cummings's words. #3812844

Steve M. Harrington January 12, 2007

Thanks very much, Kay. I've been playing around with creating some other images based on lines from his poems. He is one of the few poets who makes me both laugh and cry.

Steve (English major, 1968) :) #3812920

Marijana Fajgl February 24, 2007

Warmest congratulations Steve on your wonderful finalist! #3983176

Janine Russell level-deluxe February 24, 2007

Steve, congratulations on your finalist. #3984624

David Pratt February 24, 2007

A wonderfully deserved finalist Sir Saturation! Great job Steve!

dave #3984655

Steve M. Harrington February 24, 2007

Thank you very much, Marijana, Janine and Dave. I'm really pleased with this finalist. I resubmitted this image after extensive adjustments and flipping it horizontally to improve the composition.
Steve #3984759

Melissa G. Meiselman February 24, 2007

Stunning finalist, Steve!! Congratulations!!! #3988060

Steve M. Harrington February 24, 2007

Thanks very much, Melissa. I am really pleased with myself on this one. :)
Steve #3988167

Kay E. Mahoney level-classic February 24, 2007

Congratulations on your beautiful finalist. Good luck in the next round. #3988396

Ken Jarvis February 25, 2007

Congratulations Steve on this beautiful finalist! #3989066

Kitty R. Rodehorst-Hanna February 25, 2007

Congratulation, Steve!!!!! Fantastic image!!!!! :-) ^.^ Kitty #3990365

Carol Teal February 25, 2007

Congrats on your finalist Steve! I realy love this! I just found your response to me when I posted earlier and I got a big laugh imagining your wife dropping the leaves and you trying to shoot them! I can picture her on a stepladder! :) Also, I saw in my comment that I stated there was a photo of cummings that I liked a lot from high school (and I should have said a poem...not photo) #3990439

Mitch Spence level-classic February 25, 2007

Boy, I could have sworn I commented on this picture before, Steve . . . but couldn't find it anywhere, so obviously I didn't. But better late than . . . so, congratulations to you on this. It was a great idea and beautifully handled. #3990514

Steve M. Harrington February 25, 2007

Thanks so much to all of you for your nice comments. You may well have commented on the earlier version of this image, Mitch. I made major adjustments based on all the things I've learned in the past year.
The attempts to capture a falling leaf were truly funny and could have nearly led to a marital crisis. I kept telling my wife to drop the leaf WHEN I told her to. She kept telling me that she was, and that I obviously was incompetent and would be incapable of capturing a sunset, never mind a falling leaf! :)
It's amazing how fast leaves actually fall! Try it sometime.
Steve #3991312

Kay Beausoleil February 25, 2007

A beautiful finalist, Steve, and great work on the image! #3991821

Steve M. Harrington February 25, 2007

Merci, Kay. :) #3991852

Colette M. Metcalf February 25, 2007

Congratulations, Steve!!! #3992631

Jeff Robinson level-deluxe February 25, 2007

Congrats Steve on this Wonderful Finalist!! Jeff #3994026

Steve M. Harrington February 25, 2007

Thanks a lot, Colette and Jeff. #3994915

Kimi A. Phillips February 26, 2007

Love this Steve! Congrats on it! The colors are perfect! Kimi #3997877

John V. Roscich level-deluxe February 26, 2007

CONGRATS AGAIN STEVE
WTG
JOHN #3997963

Steve M. Harrington February 26, 2007

I really appreciate your comments, Kimi and John.
Steve #3997998

Jenny D September 30, 2007

Ooooh, I love this! Beautiful! #4864074

Steve M. Harrington September 30, 2007

Thanks very much, JD. I'm pleased. :)
Steve #4864867

Dianna Hauf October 22, 2007

I just love this as well as the EE poem!!! SO INCREDIBLY BEAUTIFUL!!!! #4961458

Steve M. Harrington October 22, 2007

Thank you, Dianna. Thiis is a sort of milestone image for me. I learned a great deal about layers, composition and the Buzz filter from creating this.
Steve #4962148

Rod Partington September 21, 2010

This is Awesome Steve!
Incredible colors!
I love your artistic images. #8922472

Steve M. Harrington September 21, 2010

Thanks very much, Rod. I am really pleased to hear you like my work.
Steve #8922895

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