Playing with my Irises...

[IzzieK]

These are the irises in my front yard. I took a few shots and tried to play around with the lights in and about them. C&C request for all of them, please...

1



2


3

[chauncey]

#1 is by far the bestest as it lack the glare found in the other two. Have you considered using some sort of a drape to shield the background to rid yourself of the obtrusive foliage.

[JasonS]

I like the first one the most too. The noticeable noise in the black areas of 2 and 3 distract me.

[FrankMi]

I really like the second one Izzie.

It's 'in your face' attitude sets it aside from the typical flower image and it has a lot of detail to explore. Although all three have contrasty busy backgrounds, the size of the blossom in that one overshadows the background better. OK, so toning down the background would still help a bit but still, this one really pops!

[John 2]

The second one for me too Izzie for the reasons Frank has given. Perhaps a little over saturated but don't take that too seriously because I have just changed my browser and it might be having an effect. I need to check it against one of my own images.

[DanK]

I also like the second one best. Two suggestions:

-- The lighting is very harsh, and you have areas that are blown out. I assume you did these in bright sunlight. You might want to try a small diffuser, like this one. Hold it between the flower and the sun, and it will give you a much more even and gentler lighting.

-- The backgrounds are busy and distracting. Part of this you can easily avoid--e.g., in the case of the third one, don't shoot with something like a cinderblock behind the flower. Part of it is harder to deal with, since in its natural setting, the flower has a lot of detailed stuff very close behind it. You can try a wider aperture to throw the background more out of focus, but this is a balancing act because an iris is a deep flower, and if you open the aperture too wide, part of the flower may go out of focus. You can also blur the backgound in postprocessing.

I cheat: I deal with the latter problem by doing most of my flower macros indoors, under controlled conditions.

[Mike Buckley]

The lighting is very harsh

Flowers are almost always photographed best in diffuse light. When shooting in a garden situation, that means shooting when the sunlight is naturally diffused by clouds and/or using diffusion material such as the one suggested by Dan.

[Shadowman]

Nicely done.

[bnnrcn]

#2 for me too Isabel, for the reasons mentioned above

[SpiderBob]

#2, yes, as I like the blurred background better, but...I like #1 better if only it had a blurred background, perhaps you can do that in PP a bit?

[Mike Buckley]

Another thought, Izzie: If you like the style of a black background and don't want to cut the plant and take it into your studio, keep an 8" x 11" piece of very high quality black felt in your bag along with four metal rods that you can stick into the ground. Four pairs of clamps such as these can be used to stretch the felt between two of the rods and to hold diffusion material or a reflector between the other two rods. You might be able to find less expensive solutions that work just as well, though getting four pairs of clamps for that price isn't bad. If you want to do away with the clamps altogether, simply keep some gaffer's tape in your bag and tape the various materials to the rods.

[IzzieK]

William Boyer ... I sort of forgot about putting a background again on those flowers. I was thinking that if I could blur the background it will work. It was a windy day when I shot these. I have a lot more but these three are the ones I had chosen to upload. I will remember backgrounds next time. Thanks for your time commenting and giving your best critiques on my work. Really appreciate your input anytime.

Jason -- thank you for taking the time between bullets and your photography to comment. Take care out there mate! 'Want you home here with us soon, son.

Frank...maybe I should stop playing with Nik Software for a while and concentrate my PP on Photoshop. I was enjoying the learning curve, which isn't much really...Honestly, I like #2 a lot that was the one I concentrated on a lot on the software. I was having a lot of fun that I overdid the damn thing...I'll be careful next time. Thank you for commenting. You know you can be harsh with me too and I'd take it on the chin for the sake of my improvement in this kind of medium.

No, John you are right. It wasn't your browser. It was my contact lens. I thought it was oversaturated too but I left it as that because I thought I like the highlights. Wrong!...

Dan Koretz...You are right. I have big diffuser stuffs. I should have brought it down but I was worrying more about it being blown away. You suggestion of a small diffuser is good. I will buy it as soon as I can so I can use it on smaller shots like this flower. And thanks for the instructions. I will make sure I write all of these by hand so it is easy to remember. Brain-wise which I sometimes lack, at least I have some notes to remind me of how to improve my shots of different subjects to go through before I even pick up my camera.

John (Shadowman), Binnur and Bob R, thank you so much for commenting. I will remember all these...not too hard. Just needs follow up on my part. I PP-ed too much, I think. I will try to improve on it by going back to the original files. I had ruined these copies enough already..

And Mike...precious Mike...helpful as always...thank you for all your advices. They are really very helpful to me. The clamps you mentioned is the one I have always thought I wanted but not having done this kind of shots before, I don't know what they are called, so I can't have it then. I knew what I want but I went to the wrong store -- the hardware people want to sell me those buckets then fill it up with quick cement and stick some sort stake on it and some clamps. Believe it or not, I have painted almost allour house room by room but bugger if I know how to use cement stuffs. Besides I was thinking it would be heavy to move it anywhere I want to later on. Something like you suggested that can be stuck to the ground and clamps will be more of my kind of thing. Thank you ... thank you...thank you...

And if I have not said it enough, thank you all so much for commenting and helping me improve the way I see things in front of me in a different kind of eyes. Through all of you, I will try my best to improve in this kind of photography...'really, really appreciate all your inputs.

[Mike Buckley]

the hardware people want to sell me those buckets then fill it up with quick cement and stick some sort stake on it and some clamps.

Way too funny!

[terrib]

Hi Izzy,

All of the suggestions that people have given you are great. But even with a drape or poster board, you are going to need it to be far enough away from the subject so you can't tell it is a drape. I've used white and black poster board, but I prefer more natural colors. I know you cannot control the surroundings of your flowers in your garden but you would be surprised how much control you can have if you spend a little time. You can certainly use props and artificial light but first see if you can do it naturally. You may not be able to cut a flower but you can sometimes move it by bending it away from it's spot. With Iris, they are tall enough that you might be able to get below them and use the sky as background, bending the flower as needed for the proper angle. Or go at it from an angle that doesn't have the rest of the garden behind it, but distant grass or other relatively evenly toned things. Get out there in the golden hours and you may not need a diffuser depending how the light hits your garden. Use a tripod so you can look at the composition comfortably. If it is windy, wait until it is not. I've been waiting several days now for the wind to stop so I can shoot hummingbirds. Here is an example of a flower in the middle of my garden but I was able to walk around it and find an angle where distant grass was behind it. The second actually has some other plants and my house in the background but far away. (Not saying these are great photos, just examples of getting good backgrounds. )

[Brownbear]

Hi Izzie,

You have already received tons of great advice and tips. Just to say that I adore the 2nd image for the beautiful colours, detail and "in your face" composition. I hope you will try this one again with softer lighting and a clearer background... it will be drop dead gorgeous... (almost there already!)

[FootLoose]

I'm late to the party and have no helpful advice, Izzie, but I just want to say that I like the 2nd shot for its pose. Two big arms and big slobbery tongue coming straight at you. Nice work.

[Mike Buckley]

The clamps and rods mentioned in my previous post can be used to move the plants into the ideal position as Terri explained.

Not saying these are great photos

I sure will, Terri! Gorgeous diffuse light with wonderfully natural backgrounds and terrific compositions. Shooting from the underside of the hibiscus leaves is both unique and magical.

I don't remember you ever showing photos in this style. Both are terrific and I hope to convince you to come out of whatever has been holding you back from posting others like them.

[Stagecoach]

Hi Izzie, I'm slacking somewhat in keeping up with postings at present due to commitments but I'll come in late and say it's No 1 for me.

You have received the advice and tips expected already so I'll just make mine real simple

a) Wind/breeze, early mornings are best where I am but that may not be the same for you

b) Direct sun, a no no

c) Backgrounds, can make or break a shot.

d) It's much easier getting it right in camera than trying to put it right with PP.

Grahame

[IzzieK]

Terri...I should had cut the flowers and brought it to my little studio, but I didn't. The flowers are not as good looking now as when I first photographed them. I cannot bend it from it's spot (or maybe I can with some of them) because the space it occupies is actually located underneath my dogwood tree. Immediately behind the flowers are some pine-y shrub in front of the window of my dining room. Very tight situation there...I thought it was still the golden hour when I went out that morning and I went out because I saw the early morning sun (SE) hitting these flowers. I thought it was beautifully backlighted from where I stood in the formal dining room so I ran and got my camera, spent an hour there doing my photoshoot and chose these three out of many. Maybe I will another chance with different angles when my other irises blooms. They are in the back garden and lots of space around them. I also have some at the side of the street. Bill (hubby) loves irises because he grew up with a mom who have them all over their farm when they were young. These are the early spring varieties. I had since purchased yellow, blue, white and pink ones which are mid and late spring varieties. I will have more chances twist and turn and bend and contort as I will do something to make my shooting life a bit easier.

Your flower shots are really very, very good. I love them very much. Thank you very much for commenting and helping me improve my shots some more...

[IzzieK]

Christina and Greg...thank you for your kind comments. These certainly encourages me to shoot more flowers. HIDE!!!

Grahame, thank you for coming out of your comfort zone to comment. I really appreciate it very much. You are right. I should had got it right on camera in the first place so there are minimal PP. I have some of those too but I just acquired Nik Software a few days ago and I was trying to learn it. I overdid the damn thing. I think I will stay with Photoshop for a while there. I can still edit it from its raw state from the original file...with spring here there will be a lot more flower photoshoots I can do...I can do better than this as soon my sick doggie who keeps waking me up in the middle of the night to shoot properly and plan ahead as soon as I see some buds coming out...I have a lot more from where they come from all around our small property. or I just might hang off the towel and shoot something else I can easily ruin...