Comment from WendyG
What a wonderful red color to these leaves Mary, they must have really stood out amongst the green of the trees and grass. Excellent composition, sharp focus, lighting and framing;)

 Comment Written 08-Nov-2012

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reply by the author on 08-Nov-2012

Thanks Wendy, appreciate your feedback :) Mary

Comment from ingi
What a beautiful picture.
Great red color with the blurring underlining the main object.
Great focus and well framed.
Good work

 Comment Written 08-Nov-2012

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reply by the author on 08-Nov-2012

Thanks so much, appreciate your positive feedback :) Mary

Comment from onyanita
good framing Mary and the complimentary colors are lovely. Focus is nice and sharp and dof gives good separation from the background. Nice lighting and good techs. Great shot.

 Comment Written 08-Nov-2012

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reply by the author on 08-Nov-2012

Thanks Sonja, appreciate your feedback as always :) Mary

Comment from phil1950
Lovely clear shot Mary I like the composition with the subject coming from the left of the frame great subject angle composition lighting focus exposure detail colours tones well done

 Comment Written 07-Nov-2012

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reply by the author on 07-Nov-2012

Thanks Phil, I really appreciate your positive feedback.

Comment from canon shooter
Yes they are very nice with a great background. It maybe a little more stunning by cropping some of the stem off and then a little vignette.

 Comment Written 07-Nov-2012

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reply by the author on 07-Nov-2012

Thanks so much, was leaving the gumnut in corner but on review maybe should have cropped tighter :)

Comment from susanlen
This image does not really work for me! I like the colours in the foliage and also the shape of the leaves. I find the framing a bit hit and miss though. I would not bother with the lower stem in the left hand corner. I would have focussed more on the larger group of leaves, filling the frame with those. This would reduce detail in the background, which although nicely blurred, is not that interesting. Some would remain of course with the green tones highlighting the red of the leaves. You could achieve a similar effect by cropping a large part of the image out to the left hand side. This would reduce your file size considerably though. Also the stem hitting the lower part of the frame is distracting. When reframing before shooting you might have been able to omit that from the frame. Otherwise I would just clone that out. Various options suggested on how to improve the shot when taken or afterwards using software.

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 Comment Written 07-Nov-2012

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reply by the author on 07-Nov-2012

Thanks for your indepth feedback - to crop tighter or not is always the question and as I was trying to show it was part of Aussie gum I left the gumnut. Olga (Life is a Dream) quite often tells me I have overcropped :)

reply by susanlen on 08-Nov-2012

Hah, hah, you cannot please all of the people all of the time!

Comment from photobeat
well taken shot mary, it is so beautiful and very simple. light balane is great and the background is fantastic, well done indeed, beny ")

 Comment Written 07-Nov-2012

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reply by the author on 07-Nov-2012

Thanks Beny appeciate you comments, a few have suggested cloning out the left lower stem but I quite liked the gumnut in lower part and thought it balanced it as you have said. Cheers

Comment from seshadri_sreenivasan
This is a fine piece of Nature Photography. This clearly shows how we can find beauty even in small mundane things which we otherwise ignore. The entire composition, colours, light make this very viewable!

 Comment Written 07-Nov-2012

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reply by the author on 07-Nov-2012

Thanks so much, glad you like it and appreciate your comments.

Comment from Always-smile
Yes they look really beautiful and very eye catching.. You captured them very well with a nice blurred green background that makes them stand out.. Nice use of natural lighting as well..

 Comment Written 07-Nov-2012

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reply by the author on 07-Nov-2012

Thanks so much, I appreciate your feedback.

Comment from terry1938
The Grampians are a really lovely part of the world, great native plants and scenery. Last thime I was there Mary Elizabeth it as bloody cold, wet, and closed in by fog, so photographic opportunities were strictl;y limited. This is a very nive nature shot, very well framed an composed. I like the detail and colour in the leaves and branch very much. Your DOF is surprisngly good considering you were shooting at f8. I would have expected the blurred background yiou have achieved as more like an f4 shot. Anyway, very good camera work and well done.

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 Comment Written 07-Nov-2012

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reply by the author on 07-Nov-2012

Thanks Terry, we were lucky with the weather although the Saturday we had 4 seasons in one day as you do in Victoria :)

reply by terry1938 on 07-Nov-2012

Particularly in Ballarat Mary Elizabeth, 4 seasons plus every variation in between. My wife has a sister in Ballarat. About 30 years ago on Boxing Day, she left Sydney in 35 degree heat, which was much the same in Melbourne. Got the train to Ballarat, stepped out into 40 degree heat at 4.30pm. At 7.30pm, the temperature was 8 degrees and the oil heaters all came on. Fog had also descended and there was a frost overnight. She had not taken any warm clothes with her.