Hi everyone.

At the moment I am currently taking my A-level art course and I am taking macro photos of natural forms such as leaves. Whilst taking photos of leaves I discovered a really great way to capture detailed photos where you can see all the veins and natural patterns running through the leaves.

All you need is a leaf, a sunny day and your camera. I will also use GIMP editing software to edit the photos.

Here is how I did it;

1) Find a leaf, any will do but try to find one which is bright and healthy. I have chosen a leaf from a thorn bush (sorry don't know the actual name) because of it's spikey edges.

2) Next hold the leaf up towards the sky so that plenty of light passes through the leaf. Ideally you want to position the leaf between the sun and your camera but just pointing it towards the sky should be fine.

As you can see, the veins in the leaf are already visible.

3) Now put your camera into macro or even better super macro mode an position the camera lens as close as possible to the leaf. If you have enough light you may even be able to get the lens so close it touches the leaf, but I would suggest positioning it as close as possible without touching the lens.

Here are a couple of examples straight from the camera

4) Now open your image in GIMP editing software or Photoshop. GIMP is free. 

I will be editing the photo above.

5) First thing you need to do is adjust the contrast. This will emphasize the lines in the leaf and give the leaf more dimension. 

To do this go to Colours - Brightness-Contrast.

6) I find de-saturating the image slightly gives it more of an atmospheric look. You can also adjust the hue very slightly to give a different tone to the leaf. 

To do this go to Colours - Hue And Saturation.

7) Now adjust the Curves slightly. This brightens the sky a little and brings out some detail in the leaf. 

To adjust Curves go to Colours - Curves.

And thats it. Obviously you can tweak the settings to your liking. You can create an even more atmospheric photo by adjusting the contrast or you can create a bright image by increasing the saturation.

Heres the final image

If you would like to add a border to your image please see my tutorial on how to create borders - http://www.myfinepix.ru/article/21561/117838

Here are a couple more examples of photos using this technique. 

Thanks for taking a look at my tutorial. Its a great technique to try with all this sunshine.

Thanks

Jack.