A single leaf stands out in stark contrast to the rest of the hedge

I love this image. I took it when just wandering the lanes near where I used to live. The hedges were ancient, and like looking into miniature models of some medieval forest full of monsters and wild magic.

This leaf is exactly as I found it, I didn’t touch or move it, and I love how it is almost aflame amongst the rest of the foliage. I have no idea why this leaf is this colour, but I feel it is a wonderful analogy for life. Every now and again there is one leaf in a multitude that is an absolute firebrand!

This is a simple, rule of thirds composition with a 50 mm prime lens at a fast aperture. I wanted the one leaf to be crisp and sharp, and everything else to blur into obscurity, so a fast aperture, and the closeness I could achieve with the 50 mm gave me a very shallow depth of field. I composed using one-shot autofocus which allowed me to focus on the leaf, then recompose without the focus shifting. I also used spot metering, on the leaf, because I wanted everything else in the image to just fade and that one leaf to burst out. I love it.