I left my expectations behind and went out into a back yard full of leaves with just a camera and an idea--this is what I got.
The top image was made using flash to "freeze" the leaf (or leaves) while twisting the camera during a 1/40 sec. exposure. Oh, and the leaf is falling (not from the tree but from my hand--many times until I got something cool). The second picture was made in similar fashion, but it's the branch is still attached to the tree.
The below images were taken of a falling leaf at night with a two--flash setup where one flash fired on first curtain synch and the second fired on rear curtain synch. A spotlight was used as a continuous light source during a 1/10 sec. exposure resulting in a sharp image of the leaf at the beginning and end of the exposure with a smooth blur in between.
The bottom immage is exactly what I had envisioned when I set it up, but on some of the shots the second flash didn't fire, such as in the one directly below. The result was still interesting.
Ultimately, this project was about serendipity. No two leaves are the same, and even the same leaf never falls the exact same way every time, so you never know what cool patterns you might get!
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