A fallen star

I keep coming back to leaves - just love them.

We worry about processing, or or at least I do, making each tweak with a sense of guilt. It must be so, otherwise no-one would announce with a feeling of self-satisfaction, that a shot is straight out of the camera. And yet we process all the time before an image has reached the computer screen. We're processing when we turn the exposure up high or down low to accentuate an effect of light, or when we flatten an image by playing with an F-stop. Then, on days like today, we see the effects of nature's magical processing when it takes things we see every day and coats them in tiny fronds of ice. I toned down the colour slightly here, opting for a faded brown over a richer red.

I was all ready to set off to Petworth to photograph the deer when I got distracted by all the frosty leaves and started photographing them. With quite a few pleasing shots of leaves (not all loaded yet), I decided that Petworth could wait another day and that I should get on with the writing, fortified with the very welcome feedback I received yesterday. It was so useful I'm sure I'll be calling on your talents again in the near future. Thank you for considering it and for sharing your thoughts.

I walked the dogs down by the canal later and worried a little bit that Pippa would go on the thin ice but she kept well clear and she's snug on her shelf now. I notice from the little icon that I was in Singapore this time last year. I wouldn't mind a bit of that just now!

I thought fellow blippers might enjoy this video clip that Rob shared with me on Facebook today. It fair took my breath away!