Summer In The Midwest

[Julie Kenward]

Nothing says summer quite like daylilies and a deep, blue sky. I found a huge planting of daylilies in the corner of a shopping mall this weekend while having coffee with a friend. I came back this morning around 8 a.m. and shot a whole card full of images. Because many of the lilies are along a retaining wall I had them anywhere from waist level all the way to about 12' off the ground. This one was towards the top of the wall, with me shooting straight up from the ground.

Canon 40D, 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
f10 @ 1/250th, ISO 100
Handheld, AWB, Eval Metering
Processed in camera raw with some minor cloning around the edges, slight crop, small levels adjustment.

[Bruce Murden]

Love the deep blue! The daylily seems washed out, but I know that's just the color of this one. Can you ask it to get a bit more saturated so it will be even better offset from the blue? :)

The only design feature that I'd like a little different is the balance of the negative spaces. There's a much larger space LL corner, weighing the image down that way. I think angling the camera (or the canvas, since you've already cloned a bit of blue around the edges, should be easier to do) to get the stem more diagonal and balance out the two lower negative spaces will enhance this summer portrait.

[Ed Vatza]

C'mon Julie! You want me to really believe the Midwest sky is really that blue! :D

I do like this image a lot. The exposure looks great to me. To Bruce's point, the lily does look a bit washed out but the color works so well against the bright blue sky. I think the contrast works very well. And I really like the composition. Nice work. Now back to the tree bark. ;)

[Gus Cobos]

Hi Julie,
Now that all of the points have been covered, I want to say that I like your composition, especially the strong bold contrast of the sky...:) I would suggest on you cloning out the tip of the thorn on the bottom of the stem. It does not flow smooth, and my eye keeps getting stuck there...:eek:

[Mike Moats]

Hey Julie, I like the comp and nice sharp details. As mentioned the flower lacks color, and the others like the deep blue sky, but if you cut back on the saturation in the sky maybe it would help the color of the flower from looking flat.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Julie,
I think Mike's suggestion of toning down the blue is right on.......even if the sky was that color. I have seen day lillies that pale color but what I really like is the back lighting going through the bloom showing all the delicate lines of it...toning the sky a bit will help accentuate this. Big bonus on the stamen sticking up and mostly seperated.