Donald Darling Jr
August 2026 - IRIS INTRUDER
About the Image(s)
Description: Taken a few years ago from my front yard. My wife grew Iris's and this one was amongst some yellow blossoms (I should know what they are, but....) and I thought a nice image could be had if I could isolate the Iris. I used my D90 with a 70 to 300 lens at 300mm at f6.7. I wanted a soft foreground and background. I had a pretty high shutter speed (1/750) because there was some wind action. I did my post processing in Elements 2023 and cropped the image. Then used the radial selection tool to isolate the area around the Iris and brightened it some and did an inverse selection to darken the perimeter of the image and desaturate that area a little.
6 comments posted
Donald, very lovely and purple iris. The soft foreground and background make it appear mystic. The background yellow flowers complement the elegant purple color. Very nice! Posted: 08/19/2026 20:03:42
Mary Ellen, thank you for the comments. I am in a phase where having strongly out of focus elements in the frame has appeal to me! Posted: 08/19/2026 21:31:43
Hi Donald,
This image is very interesting to me because it draws my attention to the iris amidst what appears to be a swirl of golden yellow blooms. Compositionally, placing purple next to yellow increases the contrast and brightens each element for me. That combined with the differing regions of focus, perhaps aided by the windy conditions, seems to add depth to the image. I agree that the image conveys a mystical quality which further enhances it for me. Posted: 08/20/2026 13:34:56
This image is very interesting to me because it draws my attention to the iris amidst what appears to be a swirl of golden yellow blooms. Compositionally, placing purple next to yellow increases the contrast and brightens each element for me. That combined with the differing regions of focus, perhaps aided by the windy conditions, seems to add depth to the image. I agree that the image conveys a mystical quality which further enhances it for me. Posted: 08/20/2026 13:34:56
Charissa, thank you for these comments. I really appreciate your view of the photograph. Posted: 08/20/2026 14:06:13
This is a very nice photo. I like the purple flower with the yellow background, it is very complimentary. Posted: 08/20/2026 22:35:48
John, thank you! Posted: 08/21/2026 01:24:51