Wild Iris

[Andy Goris]

This was taken in my pasture. In addition to feedback on the image, I'm interested in more information on the discussion of natural history image on another iris picture in this forum. That other picture was unbelievably gorgeous, and has me excited to learn focus stacking. What qualifies as a natural history image, and when would this be important? I couldn't find a description on this site, but I'm just learning my way around the site.

Technique:
ISO-100 (the specks in white petal structure are from the petal, not sensor noise), 1/160 sec, f/13. Plant is in its natural setting in the pasture - they grow wild here. I trimmed grass behind the flower so the background was further away and more out of focus. Otherwise it's a natural background. I focused using live-view with zoom and left the camera in live-view for minimal shake. I waited for the wind to die down and some clouds to cover the sun, then used a Canon 600EX-RT wireless flash with Lumiquest 7.5x8.5 diffusor attached. I held the flash in my hand and triggered the Canon 5D Mark III with a wireless remote shutter release. I used a Plamp II to steady the bloom. I nearly destroyed the bloom when I forgot to unhook the Plamp from the stem before moving the tripod. I previously ordered a Plamp stake that arrives tomorrow, so in the future the Plamp will be attached to the stake, not the tripod. The tripod had short metal spikes which really helped, and center column reversed to get the camera down low. The 100mm f/2.8L Canon Macro had a lens collar, which is an important feature when shooting with a center column reversed and the head is upside down.

In Lightroom I removed 3 tiny specs of orange pollen and one tiny white spec with the heal tool. The picture looks virtually the same with them in place, so it wasn't necessary to remove them (I assume "natural history images" wouldn't allow this???). I also adjusted clarity, noise, tone curve, white balance, white level, black level, and exposure.

[Diane Miller]

Hi Andy -- welcome!! Gorgeous light and good work on minimizing the detail in the background. You went to a lot of trouble and it paid off well. Hope you'll be out working these flowers often while they last. Must be a lot of possibilities. Artistically, I'd prefer one where the bottom petals don't feel quite so pushed against the stem, or do they all grow that way? Some out of focus blooms in the background might be an interesting idea, too.

[Ron Conlon]

Welcome, looking forward to more contributions from you. Excellent image of a wonderful bloom. Perhaps a little more breathing room around the top and sides--I too tend to try to get as many pixels as possible on the subject (too greedy) and then need to create canvas to create a more relaxed portrait.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Andy the definition for natural history images can be found in the applications to competitions they are standardised by international bodies. In this forum the images are not for competition so the odd bit of cloning here and there is ok, it is good practice to explain what modifications have been made. Without trying to elaborate too much the images in these forums shouldn't be far from the truth and some tidying up here and there is OK. Stacking is allowed in competition I would suggest that if the images are very much modified then out of the box forum is probably more suited.
Your flower is well presented, there is strong contrast between the subject and the background, for my personal taste this is a little high. The light on the flower head is good and it is even, it is the darker heavy background I have some reservation over. The shape of the flower makes life difficult in trying to decide the optimal direction from which to take the subject, I particularly like the in focus part, the top rear is slightly out of focus. The lateral aspects of the flower are more out of focus and I find them a little more distracting - especially the RHS where there is superimposing of the petals. Easy to criticise but not so easy to remedy, for this type of subject focus stacking would improve presentation but given the conditions it would have been impractical.