Japanese Maple

My neighbor has the most beautiful Japanese Maple outside their kitchen window. Our kitchen windows face each other and we get all the joy out of their maple. They planted it under their window and for the first time, they are finally able to see it because it has grown tall enough for them to see from their window.

They don't know I have a blog so I feel safe posting a couple of pictures here so I can get some feedback. I wanted to take some shots of their maple and frame them as a Christmas gift so they can put them in their window or whatever since they can barely see their tree. I really waited too long to take them because all the leaves were getting to the point of falling off. Here is one I took and I don't like it...you can see all the holes....all the white stuff are the leaves ready to go:



So then I tried to get a little "artsy" (HA! Like I know what I am talking about!) and do some shots from under the tree....blech..hate it:



So I tried to use my fave setting on my camera....it is the one with the flower so you know you are taking pictures of flowers and leaves close up....ain't they smart to put that on there for us photography dummies? The answer is, "YES!!!".....wouldn't have a clue otherwise.....seriously...thank you for the flower picture setting!

Here is my new "artsy" shot:



And this one (which I know looks like the other but it is a little different):



I just wanted to get the richness of the red in the leaves. I also took this one that shows a little green still left in the leaves:



I think I still like the first one the best....they will see it but not realize it is THEIR tree until I tell them and maybe that is good? Any thoughts from my camera people out there? And BTW....I hope one of these works because all the leaves are gone except for one little red leaf at the top. Their tree right now looks like a bunch of sticks.....I only have what I have and as Tim Gunn would say, "Make it work!"