# Unexpected yellow iris **URL:** \ **Category:** Image Critiques\ **Tags:** plant-life\ **Created:** [February 10, 2024, 11:49pm UTC](https://community.naturephotographers.network/t/unexpected-yellow-iris/39623 "2024-02-10T23:49:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mdjnewman](https://assets.naturephotographers.network/user_avatar/community.naturephotographers.network/mdjnewman/32/63750_2.png) [@mdjnewman](https://community.naturephotographers.network/u/mdjnewman)\ **Post date:** [February 10, 2024, 11:49pm UTC](https://community.naturephotographers.network/t/unexpected-yellow-iris/39623/1 "2024-02-10T23:49:45Z")
![Yellow iris.jpg](https://images.naturephotographers.network/original/3X/8/1/81af55b9ab306189d7791aeb8b0e8e85b0f444e1.jpeg) > **Critique Style Requested:** _Standard_ > > The photographer is looking for generalized feedback about the aesthetic and technical qualities of their image. ### Description I was out looking for birds with a 600m prime lens on a crop sensor camera, but came across a lovely and unexpected group of yellow iris flowers. A bit of a ridiculous camera/lens combo, but I think it worked OK! I like the warm yellows and how you can feel this is part of a cluster of flowers. I would have liked a little more room, but fixed focal length made that tricky! ### Specific Feedback This isn’t what I would think to do for a flora shot (not that I really have much experience there), but I’m curious what your impressions are! Thoughts on crop/processing especially. Is the petal coming in from the edge too distracting? I can’t see a way to clone it out given it overlaps with the flower behind. ### Technical Details Canon R10 + RF 600mm f/11 (fixed aperture lens) ISO 3200, f/11 , 1/1250 No cropping. Tone settings in LrC: ![image](https://images.naturephotographers.network/original/3X/2/1/21ca41194b346087bbb37647607c04a3e2a7c4c3.png) ---
**Author:** ![Dennis\_Plank](https://assets.naturephotographers.network/user_avatar/community.naturephotographers.network/dennis_plank/32/27033_2.png) [@Dennis\_Plank](https://community.naturephotographers.network/u/Dennis_Plank)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 6:24pm UTC](https://community.naturephotographers.network/t/unexpected-yellow-iris/39623/2 "2024-02-11T18:24:24Z")
Hi Matt. I don’t think you could crop out the petal on the left (at least I couldn’t). I think cropping in from the right quite a ways would help. The image feels unbalanced to me with all the in-focus stuff on the left. ---
**Author:** ![Kris\_Smith](https://assets.naturephotographers.network/user_avatar/community.naturephotographers.network/kris_smith/32/59826_2.png) [@Kris\_Smith](https://community.naturephotographers.network/u/Kris_Smith)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2024, 11:56pm UTC](https://community.naturephotographers.network/t/unexpected-yellow-iris/39623/3 "2024-02-11T23:56:39Z")
A riot of color! The hope of spring and the joy of summer all rolled into one. Your choice of composition is an interesting one. Can you talk a little about that? ---
**Author:** ![mdjnewman](https://assets.naturephotographers.network/user_avatar/community.naturephotographers.network/mdjnewman/32/63750_2.png) [@mdjnewman](https://community.naturephotographers.network/u/mdjnewman)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 2:00am UTC](https://community.naturephotographers.network/t/unexpected-yellow-iris/39623/4 "2024-02-13T02:00:06Z")
Thank you Dennis and Kristen! @Kris_Smith I wanted to preserve the feeling of this being one flower at the edge of a bigger cluster, I thought the green and yellow in the BG helped with that, but @Dennis_Plank is right that it’s quite unbalanced. There will probably still be a lot of colour in the BG with a much tighter crop 👍 It was a very opportunistic capture, I would’ve loved if there was an angle where I could get just one flower in the frame, but I still love it for some reason. Maybe just the memory of the walk 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Dennis\_Plank](https://assets.naturephotographers.network/user_avatar/community.naturephotographers.network/dennis_plank/32/27033_2.png) [@Dennis\_Plank](https://community.naturephotographers.network/u/Dennis_Plank)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 12:44pm UTC](https://community.naturephotographers.network/t/unexpected-yellow-iris/39623/5 "2024-02-13T12:44:57Z")
Matt. I don’t know if it would work with this lens, but it can be very effective to fous on a bloom in the middle of the pack with the foreground blooms completely out of focus. It’s usually done with a wide open macro lens, but looking at the out of focus blooms in this image makes me think it might work, particularly if your in-focus bloom is at minimum focal distance. ---
**Author:** ![mdjnewman](https://assets.naturephotographers.network/user_avatar/community.naturephotographers.network/mdjnewman/32/63750_2.png) [@mdjnewman](https://community.naturephotographers.network/u/mdjnewman)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 3:33pm UTC](https://community.naturephotographers.network/t/unexpected-yellow-iris/39623/6 "2024-02-13T15:33:03Z")
Thanks Dennis! I’ve got a macro-ish 35mm f/1.8 lens that gets to 0.5x magnification, 35mm might be too short for this technique but I’ll give it a try 👍 ---
**Author:** ![Bill\_Fach](https://assets.naturephotographers.network/user_avatar/community.naturephotographers.network/bill_fach/32/78290_2.png) [@Bill\_Fach](https://community.naturephotographers.network/u/Bill_Fach)\ **Post date:** [February 13, 2024, 3:58pm UTC](https://community.naturephotographers.network/t/unexpected-yellow-iris/39623/7 "2024-02-13T15:58:17Z")
Matt: Terrific color palette and a very effective DOF choice. My first impression even with the thumbnail was the imbalance mentioned and I wondered, “why not just rotate the camera left and include the other flower?” Another alternative would be to go portrait orientation and crop away the left flower completely. I did that and did some other cleanup on the petal that would have exited the frame. Back to you. \>=))\> ![Yellow-iris](https://images.naturephotographers.network/original/3X/7/6/76835d9420d929833e83d6155ead5d9338ba0ded.jpeg) ---
**Author:** ![mdjnewman](https://assets.naturephotographers.network/user_avatar/community.naturephotographers.network/mdjnewman/32/63750_2.png) [@mdjnewman](https://community.naturephotographers.network/u/mdjnewman)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2024, 3:20pm UTC](https://community.naturephotographers.network/t/unexpected-yellow-iris/39623/8 "2024-02-14T15:20:38Z")
Thank you @Bill_Fach ! I’ll do some PS learning and try to reproduce this. ---
**Author:** ![Diane\_Miller](https://assets.naturephotographers.network/user_avatar/community.naturephotographers.network/diane_miller/32/27391_2.png) [@Diane\_Miller](https://community.naturephotographers.network/u/Diane_Miller)\ **Post date:** [February 17, 2024, 4:17am UTC](https://community.naturephotographers.network/t/unexpected-yellow-iris/39623/9 "2024-02-17T04:17:02Z")
Thumbs up for @Bill_Fach’s version!! It’s all about balancing the visual weight in the frame. There is a bit of yellow cast here, which is limiting tonal detail. I’m guessing going back to the raw file and playing with WB might give a slight improvement without losing the dramatic color.