Photo by Fazal Adil
Cradle of Life
The long dead and forgotten tree is cradling new life, on the horizontal log at the left and the one standing.
This 35mm, full frame, 47 megapixel monochrome, high key photograph, was shot at a forest preserve in Northwestern suburbs of Chicago, IL.
Camera Leica Q2 Monochrom.
The early morning, 120 second long exposure was achieved using a Gobe 10 stop ND filter + Polarizing filter.
While shooting, the camera was deliberately set to overexpose, to lighten and alienate the background, as I had planned to darken and retrieve the details on the main subject, the dead tree, in postprocessing.
A perfect Golden Spiral composition.
Postprocessed exclusively on ON1.
Post processing notes:
Super Select AI : a combination of Grunge, Dynamic Contrast to bring back detail on the tree and Adjustment to decrease the exposure. Healing brush to remove foreground distractions at bottom right. Sunshine and Bleach Bypass to lighten the trees and their reflection on the opposite bank. Cropped to 16:9 ratio.Exif information:
| Copyright: | Fazal Adil |
| Camera: | LEICA Q2 MONO |
| Aperture: | f/1.7 |
| Focal Length: | 28mm |
| ISO: | 100 |
| Shutter Speed: | 120/1 sec. |
| Created: | June 6, 2025 01:32:04 |