I was anxious to photograph something, so I desperately looked for a subject in my front yard! I came across an ordinary green leaf. I was skeptical about whether I would create any interesting photographs of this rather ordinary subject, but that's all I had at the time.

After capturing some rather boring pictures of the leaf, I took a much closer look using my Nikon 200 f/4 Micro lens. Before long, I concentrated on a section of the leaf near where the stem meets the leaf. The "scene" reminded me of a river of yellow flowing between two very steep green hills.

I've always liked the color combination of green and yellow. I held a small Nikon flash unit behind the leaf to help bring out the colors and the texture of the leaf.

At first, I made sure to line up the stem so that it was aligned vertically. However, that straight line led to a boring composition. In the end, I decided to let the line run diagonally through the frame--which almost always leads to a more interesting and dynamic composition.

Green leafCloseup of a green leaf in Orland Park, Illinois on May 20, 2017 Out of this single, ordinary green leaf, I created a series of pictures from a photo shoot that lasted about 90 minutes! It paid off to take a closer look.

To view more images of this leaf, as well as some other photos of a pine tree and grass, please CLICK HERE.