From “Planting” in Tall Bearded Iris (Fleur-de-lis): A Flower of Song by Walter Stager:
“Light and shadow should be considered. Most irises look best in full sunlight, but a few (as, those with bluish color) look equally well in light shadow….
“The point of view should receive attention. Some irises are very beautiful when seen close at hand, but much less so when seen from a distance, and colors should therefore be chosen which will carry well the distance from which they will usually be seen….
“Delicate colors will be effective at a greater distance if they have a solid background to be outlined against.”
While there are no references to photography in Walter Stager’s 1922 book Tall Bearded Iris (quoted above), I thought it was interesting that his planting advice strikes such a visual chord: what he recommends for stylized planting of irises works equally well for photographing them.
Most of the images in the galleries below are from the same photoshoot as my previous post (Late Spring Blues: 1 of 2) — but processed with black backgrounds and cropped (in some cases) to embiggen the flower. The first two are new to this post: other random iris and shrubbery bits had photo-bombed the pictures, so these two worked best blacked-out.
Thanks for taking a look!
Always against black. Spectacular.
Thanks! Still having fun with my flowers-on-black approach, sort of addicted to it at this point. Every photo is a slightly different challenge — especially since in Lightroom I “paint” the mask around edges of the flowers with many many mouse movements! 🙂
Those selections are sometimes a challenge. But your results are astonishingly beautiful.
Stunning shots! The black background is incredible!
Thanks, Amy! Those black backgrounds are a lot of work, so I appreciate the comment and will happily accept all the compliments I can get!
🙂 🙂