Calm Within a Storm

Calm Within a Storm, originally uploaded by Jersey Rich.

As I was shooting some shots of a natural spillway from a lake I spotted a red leaf that somehow managed to stay where it was. The sun was above and to camera left. It was partly cloudy and when the sun came out it lit this leaf up. It looked so calm that it wasn't even moving.

I try my best to not worry about the camera settings when I shoot. I try to focus my attention on the entire image. I'll often shift the camera around several times before snapping an image. This one of about 50 shots. I played with exposure compensation and prefer to have the image slightly on the dark side so as not to blow out the details of any lighter areas. I also shoot with max color saturation and contrast.