My first week's photo

[Bulgart]

Hello everyone, this is my first post, and my first critique by a lot more experienced photographers. I took this photo just yesterday, with my first DSLR that I just bought last week. While I like the photos I take I have no idea if they are any good as photographs. This photo I took in Chain O'Lakes State Park in IL. This leaf caught my attention because it was one of the only leafs that were on this and the surrounding trees.
The camera I am using is Canon 7D with the lens that came with it EF28-135mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM. The shot was with the Av Priority Mode at: Av 3.5 / Tv 1/800 / ISO 200.

Any critique will be greatly appreciated. Thank You.

IMG_0441 by bulgarts, on Flickr

[Isiliel]

Maybe I shouldn't be the first to comment on your image, since I don't consider myself being a "real" photographer, but I wanted to tell you that your image is interesting. Maybe I would crop it differently but I like the mood it portrays.

If you love photography and gives you pleasure, never give it up!
Thanks for sharing and welcome.

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[SwissJon]

Well, I have to say that wasn't what I was expecting to see.

First off, you should include focal length (30mm) in your EXIF data as this helps us judge where you are in your camera's ability.

Ok, well, I like the idea, but the bright background disturbs me.. I find my eye being wrenched from the leaf by the brighter things behind. I think this photo would have been better if you'd moved a little so that there was a darker background. Perhaps still identifyable as a wood, but hopefully without the brightness, the eye would get drawn to the leaf.

I also think that the leaf would have been displayed better if you'd zoomed in some.. It's an interesting subject, with the veins etc, but you've lost all that with the smaller size.

[dlambert]

This is probably a good place to look at the rule of thirds. In this case, you could frame the leaf on the left third or the right third. As Jon said, though, framing it with all sorts of space on the left could leave the leaf a little "lost". You can get some sense for different compositions by cropping this photo -- I tried attaching a sample (hopefully, it'll show up).

[Bulgart]

Thank you all for posting a critique, and thank you dlamberd for taking your time to crop the image and give me a sample of a better composition. I knew something wasn't right with the image, but I couldn't see. When I was taking the photo I couldn't really zoom in because I couldn't have kept the high aperture, and I had tried taking the shot from a different angle, but the background was more gray and I didn't like it.
I try not to edit the photos, I feel as if I am cheating, and especially since I am just learning photography.
Should I feel the way I feel about editing or not? Thank you

[jdepould]

I think coming in from a slightly lower angle would've helped you here. If you put the leaf right in that bright spot, closer to the top right corner, it might be stronger.

The background isn't quite blurry enough for my taste, a longer focal length would help that.

With the image as-is, I would probably crop in on the top and right a little bit. Put the branch right in the corner.

[danbaileyphoto]

Nice shot! I actually like the position of the leaf, I think you did a good job placing it inside the frame. It stands out nicely and it's not too centered. That doesn't mean that there aren't other good options for how to compose this scene, but for a first post, I think it's a nice effort. Lots of good suggestions and feedback here, that's one of the great things about this site!