Barbara Hunley
July 2025 - Bloom
About the Image(s)
This image was captured the afternoon of July 7, 2025 at the pond on the Mary Hardin-Baylor Univ campus. They have a beautiful large pond and fountain, and the water lilies grow wild in there. It was an overcast day and it began to rain again as I was finishing up my pictures.
The picture was taken with my tripod mounted Nikon D850 camera with a Nikon 70-200 mm lens (1/640 sec, f/8, ISO 200).
7 comments posted
Hi Barbara: Certainly a pleasant image of Pink Water Lily. The overcast lighting allows for a soft lit presentation which fits this flower well. Some flowers with pink petals are hard to capture texture and detail in the petals however you have captured both.
Do not want to sound like a "nit-pic" however the green leaf at the top could be darkened down to more the tone of the other darker green leaves. I know this flower is a water lily, however in this particular picture I cannot see any water to complete the nature story.
Posted: 07/09/2025 04:38:55
Do not want to sound like a "nit-pic" however the green leaf at the top could be darkened down to more the tone of the other darker green leaves. I know this flower is a water lily, however in this particular picture I cannot see any water to complete the nature story.
Posted: 07/09/2025 04:38:55
Hi Murphy!
I agree that the green leaf should be toned down slightly and I have already made that adjustment on the original picture. Good catch! As for the water, it was such a dreary day and there was no sun reflection on the water, however, you can see the reflection of the pads in the grayish area which was the water.
I took an HDR of the fountain and you can see how dark the water was due to lack of sun. The lilies can be seen in the background. Posted: 07/10/2025 06:14:11
I agree that the green leaf should be toned down slightly and I have already made that adjustment on the original picture. Good catch! As for the water, it was such a dreary day and there was no sun reflection on the water, however, you can see the reflection of the pads in the grayish area which was the water.
I took an HDR of the fountain and you can see how dark the water was due to lack of sun. The lilies can be seen in the background. Posted: 07/10/2025 06:14:11
Hi Barbara: I do agree sometimes the water in a pond depending on circumstances can become quite dark in tone. In your additional picture I can see the water lilies growing against a sidewalk with a darker green tree above the lilies. It appears the darker green leaves may be reflecting in the pond causing a very dark water tone. Posted: 07/12/2025 15:21:04
Really nice capture. Lovely details and reflection.
Really good to see the second image to put the flower in its context. Posted: 07/10/2025 11:52:37
Really good to see the second image to put the flower in its context. Posted: 07/10/2025 11:52:37
I really am enjoying this image. There is simplicity in this presentation and the bloom stands out nicely without losing a feel for the surrounding environment. I agree that due to the lighting, some of the native detail of the bloom is lost a bit here. However, we don't have to live with just what our camera gives us. Adding a bit of micro contrast (the texture, and clarity sliders in ACR or Lightroom Develop mode) can restore a bit more of the texture and native color. I might also suggest darkening the background a bit (as previously suggested), and more so on the right side to even out the background a bit. I have included a version of this image with these suggestions to illustrate my thoughts. See what you think … Posted: 07/10/2025 19:43:25
Barbara, a beautiful pink water lily with raindrops! Darkening the background does clearly enhance the impact of the lily. Posted: 07/19/2025 21:53:34
Hi Barbara, a beautiful image, very pleasant! You did a great job! I agree that it would be better to darken the background. Thanks for sharing! Posted: 07/23/2025 13:01:22