The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image.
Description
One of the flowers that always delights - blue flag/wild blue iris. I’ve photographed it many times, but oh this one in the distance in the bog mat of Horn Lake was just too beautiful to be real. But it is.
Specific Feedback
There were a couple of bunches of these to either side, but I liked the “bud vase” approach of this single flower. What do you think?
Technical Details
Handheld in the kayak…might have had the polarizer on, but I can’t remember
Lr for basic processing including a wb tweak, this vertical crop & the usual luminosity massage. Ran the new denoise AI function and added more sharpening on top. Photoshop to remove some distractions at the bottom and blur the bg a bit more.
Delightful!! I love the detail in the flower and hint of environment. I do wonder about removing or toning down the isolated specular highlight above and to the left of the flower.
Wild iris has adapted to so many climates – it’s always a delight to see it in different habitats. We have a coastal variety or species out here but the inland climate is too hot and dry for it. It thrives in areas of the eastern Sierra where there are meadows fed by snow melt. Near Bridgeport there are large flat green meadows with cattle herds, and there are swampy areas with small streams. Wild iris grows there, but it seems confined to areas along the roadside fences, but inside the fences. (Maybe these areas are actually irrigation ditches, but they look natural.) The cattle don’t seem to bother it. I photographed some but not with great success, as I was stalking birds. (Also not with great success.)
Thanks @Diane_Miller & @Shirley_Freeman - wild iris is pretty amazing and one of my favorite wildflowers. It has adapted far and wide for sure. Having never lived west of the Mississippi I’m interested in the possibility of seeing them in a different environment than what I’m used to. Here they grow in bogs and on the edge of rivers, ponds and lakes where they can be in water almost all the time. I’d love it if some grew on the tiny edge of river in my yard, but alas, they don’t, but are on other parts up and down stream.
I wondered about that bit of bog cotton back there, which is what it is. The reddish bits are pitcher plant flowers. So I cloned it out and added another shot in the OP.
Your edited version has improved the composition. The softer bokeh are OK and add some visual interest to the BG. Flower is great and you could even crop it tighter along the vertical axis for a slightly different presentation. However, I like the edited version as presented…Jim
Thanks @Shirley_Freeman & @Jim_Zablotny - glad the rework hits better. It will be another year before I can photograph these guys again, but I probably will.
Very nice Kris! and I like what you did with cleaning up the BG. It’s a small thing but really makes a difference. I also like the OOF red blotches in the background. The comp with this single flower works for me and I feel a sense of calm when I view this.
Thanks @Tom_Nevesely - this might be the best photo of this flower I’ve done and they were all done from a kayak. I think I may have tipped the wb slightly warmer to bring out that color coordination with the back a little stronger.
I still can’t believe you take all of these great shots from a kayak - Kudos! If it was me, I’d probably be so focused on the photography that I’d tip the kayak and go in the water, camera and all.
