I like it ...a two for one ... by cropping out the iris flowers leaving the mint in the foreground & iris stalks in the background

Lovely photo, Dirt. The colors are very soothing and the detail is exquisite!

I love it, Dirt!

I put it in the database, probably should have done a different crop--looks bad square. oh well.

heres the twofer i was admiring

Yeah, here's another one that really, would rather have been cut in half for two pictures...

Unfortunate. I thought it was so cool with my 'face-cam'--my eyes--saw the red stuff and and the buds, the dark purple and the orange, and I tried... but, didn't translate it well at all

As much as a proponent of "nature providing the background", sometimes things just ain't right...



Apologies for any vertigo, crossed eyes, or other maladies that might have caused.

Brand new here took this this afternoon it brings me such joy to see it bloom every spring beautiful flowers . Blooms where it's 🌱 'ed

deepsouth said:heres the twofer i was admiring

I see where you're going there, but splitting the photo into two sorta ruins the composition for me. I like the original better where the purple plays in both the foreground and the background to tie it all together. The second shot seems to lack a center of interest. But I'm no expert so I could be wrong.

Here's one from today that I kinda liked.



This one, not so much. All I see is GREEN!

Just shot this one about five mins ago. Knocked a bit off the left side for the sake of composition. The background here is an asphalt street and its attendant curb. 300mm f4.5 wide open. Maybe this is an example of making the background irrelevant? And wondering, William, if I hijack the thread while not competing. Thinking a lot more about setting up my shots.

I think that is gorgeous, asa!

Love how it looks so "soft". Nice job, Asa.

And I also agree that this thread has made me think more about setting up a position with regards to the background. Sometimes it works -
and sometimes it doesn't.

Example: epic fail; this background gives me vertigo.



But this one turned out okay despite some "fuzzies".

GrammaChar said:...but this one turned out okay despite some "fuzzies".

Oh yes it did!

for the acorn!

evermorelawnless said:Just shot this one about five mins ago. Knocked a bit off the left side for the sake of composition. The background here is an asphalt street and its attendant curb. 300mm f4.5 wide open. Maybe this is an example of making the background irrelevant? And wondering, William, if I hijack the thread while not competing. Thinking a lot more about setting up my shots.

Getting people to think more about backgrounds, setting up shots, is exactly what this thread is about. It is about that much more than it is about competition.
As plant lovers I believe we sometimes get a bit blind to how much better a plant will look in a photo if we also take the time to make sure light, background and composition also works. Sure the plant will still be nice to look at anyway, but why not make it look fantastic? And that is what this thread is about.

Asa, how is it that your asphalt is so light colored? Or, is the iris in the shade and the asphalt in the sun...?

It's really old asphalt. Hasn't been re-oiled in years. It's also shot in very early morning light...if you can call it that. Well before the sun came over the mountain. I had the metering set to the middle setting (not point-of-focus and not whole frame) so I think the camera got a little tricky putting a little more light on the background. Would have looked a lot darker had I metered only on the iris. I think??

Thanks William. Neat thread and very worthwhile push.

I wonder too, is that how cameras work nowadays? As opposed to point-of-focus metering, general metering uses software to "make the photo better" rather than using the same meter setting throughout the photo? I guess I shouldn't be surprised....

This would be another step of removing skill from photography. I think everyone who grew up using film cameras feels the same way I do: compared to film, digital photography is like cheating. But I'm not complaining!