Robert Schleif  


Spring  Colors by Robert Schleif

July 2021 - Spring Colors

About the Image(s)

This is a focus stack of an emerging iris taken earlier this spring. I was attracted to the combination of the three colors.


This round’s discussion is now closed!
8 comments posted




Dorinda Wills   Dorinda Wills
(Group 30)
Lovely composition as well as the colors. Two suggestions for you. There is a bright green leaf or stem in the upper left corner. I would either remove it or desaturate it. You said that you focus stacked. I'm not sure if it is from that or not, but the yellow and white central part of the petals appears over sharpened. Your separation of the iris from the background is excellent. I feel as if I could reach down and touch the flower!
  Posted: 07/03/2021 13:52:37



Stuart Caine   Stuart Caine
Very nice, sharp image. The colors are great. I would suggest that you tone down the green or blur them out a little. If you tone them down a little your eye would go directly to the flower and the green would blend in with the background.   Posted: 07/04/2021 15:18:15



Stuart Caine   Stuart Caine
Very nice, sharp image. The colors are great. I would suggest that you tone down the green or blur them out a little. If you tone them down a little your eye would go directly to the flower and the green would blend in with the background.   Posted: 07/04/2021 15:18:15



Stuart Caine   Stuart Caine
Very nice, sharp image. The colors are great. I would suggest that you tone down the green or blur them out a little. If you tone them down a little your eye would go directly to the flower and the green would blend in with the background.   Posted: 07/04/2021 15:18:15



Robert Schleif   Robert Schleif
(Group 78)
Thank you both for the help. I'll address that green stem near the top as well as the dark smudge near the lower left corner. I don't find any halos on in the white and yellow part of the flowe, so it may not be oversharpened. In real life, the patterns are sharp and well defined.

With respect to the suggestion of toning down the greens, usually I do like the backgrounds to be darker and unobtrusive. In this case however, I am trying to replicate the feeling of a fairly well known Japanese painting of an iris, and I need to maintain the background brightness to do so.

I have wondered about the fairly large tilt of the stems and leaves and I half expected to be advised to bring them all closer to vertical.   Posted: 07/04/2021 19:11:39



Sarita Yeola   Sarita Yeola
(Groups 15 & 94)
Robert, Very nice photo of the Iris. I like how the background is beautifully blurred except for the green leaves that are all going in one direction, creating a flow in your image. The colors of the Iris are stunning against this background.   Posted: 07/08/2021 15:42:54



Holly Moore   Holly Moore
Beautiful iris and photograph. The details are outstanding and the flower really pops against the nicely blurred background. The composition is strong and the diagonal stems add interest and movement. I think toning down the green stem in the upper left is the only improvement you might consider.   Posted: 07/11/2021 18:21:15



Keith Parris   Keith Parris
Excellent photograph - it seems that you accomplished what you intended. Print and frame it.   Posted: 07/30/2021 01:41:45