Barbara Hunley
March 2025 - Lily
About the Image(s)
The water lily was taken at Austin’s Zilker Botanical Gardens. Here I used my with a Nikon D300, 18-200mm Nikon lens, and a tripod (1/200 sec, f/9, no flash). My photography mentor had me darken the area around the lily and put more highlights into the reflection of the flower in the water.
This round’s discussion is now closed!
7 comments posted
This is a beautiful shot, being both simple and complex. The colors are wonderfully muted, and the subject is clean presented. The reflections in the water are a plus, and the darker background frames and sets apart the main subject nicely. The editing choices were well considered, but I think you stopped too soon. The actual bloom is a bit overexposed and especially in the center. As such you are losing much of the native detail and subtle shadowing within the actual bloom. As shown, the detail that we see in the reflection is not visible in the bloom. Here I suggest adding more micro contrast using the texture and clarity sliders in the Lightroom develop mode (or in Adobe Camera Raw) to the bloom, and perhaps a bit more independently to the central section (perhaps with a curves layer).I have included a version here which illustrates my thoughts. See what you think … Posted: 03/06/2025 11:04:59
Hi Charles! For some reason my notifications that someone has left a message has stopped showing up in my email. Not sure what has happened.
Anyway, I see your point of adding more contrast. When I took this picture, my photography teacher and mentor suggested I expand more on the reflection which I liked. This picture was taken on a sunny day but in a shady part of the pond so it didn't have that direct sun glare and was taken before noon which helped. Posted: 03/26/2025 02:31:50
Anyway, I see your point of adding more contrast. When I took this picture, my photography teacher and mentor suggested I expand more on the reflection which I liked. This picture was taken on a sunny day but in a shady part of the pond so it didn't have that direct sun glare and was taken before noon which helped. Posted: 03/26/2025 02:31:50
It is so easy to get overly-focused on one part of our images, that we look past other elements. I suspect that this is what happened to you here. Don't you just hate when that happens? Luckily, one can deal with these oversights in post processing. See my recent comments I made to Xio regarding the significance of post-processing in our craft. Posted: 03/27/2025 15:47:25
Hi Barbara: An excellent picture of a white pond lily with a yellow center. I like your composition; the way you have positioned the flower within the frame as it is tilted upward and slightly to the left. The darkened background was a great idea, and then your inclusion of the 3 leaves at the right side of the frame add fine points of interest. The reflection in the water completes the story.
Using no flash was a great idea, the flash would have removed the shadow detail on the leaves, and also removed any detail and texture from the white leaves; the result from using flash would have resulted in a very flat looking picture. Extra fine work !! cheers. Posted: 03/06/2025 14:43:21
Using no flash was a great idea, the flash would have removed the shadow detail on the leaves, and also removed any detail and texture from the white leaves; the result from using flash would have resulted in a very flat looking picture. Extra fine work !! cheers. Posted: 03/06/2025 14:43:21
Thank you Murphy. I am not a big flash user and I think it removes detail that I like to see. There are times when it is needed but this picture was taken on a sunny day in a shady area of the pond so I was able to capture it's true likeness. My photography teacher and mentor suggested that I highlight more of the reflection which I did. Posted: 03/26/2025 02:27:11
Hi Barbara,
Lovely. I like the fact that the flower is angled, which allow light and shadows affecting the petals in different angles.
I like the mirror reflection on the water.
Well done. Posted: 03/17/2025 14:47:50
Lovely. I like the fact that the flower is angled, which allow light and shadows affecting the petals in different angles.
I like the mirror reflection on the water.
Well done. Posted: 03/17/2025 14:47:50
Thank you Pierre! The water lily was so perfectly positioned that day and my photography mentor encouraged me to expand on the reflection in the water which I did. I could spend all my time taking pictures of water lilies!! They are so delicate and beautifully created. Posted: 03/26/2025 02:20:53