What initially attracted me to this composition was the relationship between the two leaves. Their position naturally created the impression of a reflection, and I wanted the lighting to reinforce that illusion rather than overpower it.
The biggest challenge was that I had almost no room behind the subject. The steel wool and concrete wall were both very close, which made controlling light spill especially important.
Because the leaves were wet, I also had to deal with quite a bit of reflected light on their surface. Using a circular polarizer allowed me to reduce some of that glare and bring back more of the natural color and texture before building the rest of the lighting.
By shooting wide open at f/2.8, I could turn the illuminated steel wool into much larger circles of blue bokeh. The cooler highlights between the leaves helped suggest the feeling of water, while the warm accent from the opposite side added enough color variation to balance the scene.
The final image looks much more complicated than the scene actually was. There was no reflection and no water behind the leaves—just careful light placement, shallow depth of field, a polarizer, and a small piece of steel wool.

– Canon R5
– Canon RF 100mm Macro
– Circular Polarizer
– amaran Ace 25c (x2)
– amaran Grid Attachment
– Adaptalux Flexible LED Light
– Steel Wool
– Benro Tripod

Camera: Canon R5
Lens: Canon RF 100mm Macro
Aperture: f/2.8
Shutter Speed: 1/125s
ISO: 400
Filter: Circular Polarizer
Focus stacking: 30 images used
Focus Bracketing: 30 images captured

I started by composing the two maple leaves (1) so the lower leaf almost felt like a reflection of the one above it. Once I found the angle, I underexposed the natural light by approximately two stops. This gave me a darker starting point and much more control over how each part of the scene would appear.
Because the leaves were wet, I was getting quite a bit of reflection from their surface. Before building the lighting, I added a circular polarizer (7) and rotated it until I found the best balance between reducing the glare and keeping some natural highlights. This helped reveal more of the color and texture in the leaves and gave me a cleaner starting point for the artificial lighting.
The first light I introduced was an amaran Ace 25c (2), positioned behind and to the left of the leaves. The unit itself was green, but the light was set to a natural 4700K. Rather than pointing it directly across the entire scene, I feathered it forward toward the subject so only part of the beam illuminated the leaves.
The background was physically very close, so controlling spill was extremely important. I added the grid attachment to keep the beam focused and prevent the light from illuminating the steel wool or concrete wall (6) behind the subject. This allowed me to reveal texture and shape in the leaves while keeping the surrounding scene much darker.
Once the main light was controlled, I started building the illusion of the reflection.
I placed a small piece of steel wool (3) only a couple of inches behind the leaves, roughly between them in the composition. I then aimed a blue Adaptalux Flexible LED Light (4) directly at it.
Because I was shooting at f/2.8 and focusing much closer on the leaves, the individual strands of steel wool disappeared completely. Instead, the reflected blue light became large, soft circles of bokeh running between the two leaves.
The distance was especially important here. I didn't have much room behind the subject, so shooting wide open helped maximize the size of those highlights even though the steel wool was only a couple of inches away. Those blue circles also helped reinforce the illusion that the lower leaf might somehow be a reflection of the upper one.
At this point, the image was almost complete, but I felt the upper-right portion of the frame needed a little more separation. I positioned the second amaran Ace 25c (5) from the upper right. This was the white Ace unit, and I set the light itself to an orange tone. I kept it subtle, using just enough warmth to create separation while balancing the cooler blue highlights elsewhere in the frame.
Because I wanted to preserve the large background highlights, I didn't want to close the aperture to gain additional depth of field. Instead, I kept the lens wide open at f/2.8 and captured 30 images at different focus points.
Those 30 frames were stacked in post-processing, allowing me to keep both leaves sharp while preserving the soft, oversized bokeh that was such an important part of the image.

Sometimes creating an interesting image isn't about finding the perfect background. It's about recognizing what you already have around you and figuring out how light, depth of field, and a few simple elements can completely transform it.
There was no water creating this reflection—just two leaves, some steel wool, and carefully controlled light.
And maybe that's what I enjoy most about creating images like this. You're not necessarily photographing what was there. You're exploring what it could become.