[nichpr]

I like the clean composition here, but I'm struggling to make the big leaf pop.
Would appreciate any suggestions / ideas you may have. Thanks
- Paul

[Charlotte]

Here's my go, Paul



Selected just the leaves, did adjustment layer for curves, S curve for more contrast, then sharpened at 50%.

[P-E]

I had a little go;

Curves: Medium Contrast.
USM: 20.30.4
Added border.

[fionaB]

my attempt


duplicates the layer and changed layer mode to overlay.....

selected the lighter leaf and brought the saturation down slightly

thats it

Fi

[lcraft]

Hhopefully my eyes work this early in the morning. To me the leaves don't pop because of how busy the background is.

Selected leaves, inversed, slight gaussian blur on background. unsharp mask on the whole image to bring out the structure of the leaves.., slight contrast bump.

[Soupdragon]

[Rob Barron]

Not necessarily the way i would have gone but given you wanted it to 'pop' I thought I'd go mad and really try and get it punchy. I felt the ice should be really blue to get the coldness, though I have gone to the point of making it like blue gel, just to provide a stronger complement to the strong autumnal colours of the two leaves. Nothing fancy done here, just played with curves, hue toning and worked on separate layers. Hope it pops for yer

Cheers,
Rob

[Markulous]

If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!



Concentrated on contrasting the two leaves using dodg, burn and saturation. Emphasised the ice pattern. Selective sharpening

[Charlotte]

I like yours a lot Mark. The leaves have that thin, transparent look that seems appropriate, being on ice + all, thus revealing lots of fine detail too, + the border finishes it off nicely

[Trashcan]

I find soupdragon's ice most appealing. The cool blue sends a shiver down my spine

[nichpr]

I want to thank each of you - Charlotte, P-E, Fiona, Icraft, Soupdragon, Rob and Mark for the time and effort you gave to improve this shot. Each of you were a big help and I appreciate it. Here is my revision based on your input. While I really like the blue ice and may yet make a version with it - for now the natural ice is how I remember it and went with that.
Thanks again.
- Paul

[Charlotte]

And very well done too, Paul! A fine conclusion to this little exercise, which we all enjoyed I believe, and I think you've brought out the best in the leaves + the ice in your final version. Very nicely done

[nichpr]

Thanks Charlotte.

- Paul