Most of the irises in the garden of my neighbor and photography mentor Cindy Dyer have not yet bloomed, but this one beautiful yellow bearded iris decided to jump ahead of the others. Most of the iris buds are on stems several feet high, but this blossom is only a few inches off of the ground—perhaps that is why it was an early bloomer.
If you look closely at the two shots, you will immediately notice that I took them on separate days. The light was quite different on each those days and there were raindrops present on the petals when I took the second shot. Additionally, I chose a very different shooting angle for each image and processed them to emphasize different aspects of the photo. I have a slight preference for the overall feel of the first shot, but love the raindrops in the second shot—I think the pair of images work well together in tandem.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
Nice Mike! Enjoyed seeing them!
Beautiful 💜✨
Bearded iris are such spectacular flowers, and your images here, Mike, are fantastic. Thanks for so artistically sharing this glory.
Thanks, Jet. My friend has a whole bunch more that will soon be blooming, lots of purple and yellow ones, if I remember correctly. She also has some lilies that are coming up, so I see some more flower photography in my future.
To borrow one of Benjamin’s observations on the previous post…this iris is “Super Duper”! Thank-you, Mr. Mike!
Thanks for all your support and encouragement. I am always excited to see that I have a comment from you. I know that a lot of folks are having to stay indoors more than I am, so I am even more motivated to take photos that will interest, inspire, and enlighten them.
Marvelous! Wouldn’t it be fun to put an iris with this color into the blue eye of yesterday’s cormorant?
Ah, jokes about the eyes. There are so many of them. One of my favorites is about a guy who called into work and said he was having eye problems–he couldn’t see going to work that day.
Ah, yes, the eyes have it yet again. I’ve realized, on numerous occasions, that you are a dedicated, if rather high-brow–(dare I say it?) pupil of the language nuances. I humbly suggest, however, keeping a bit of a lid on the temptation to lash back (wink, wink)!
Wow ! That iris must be in a sheltered garden. Mine are all leaves and have not set buds yet as far as I know. Guess I better go check?!? Wish I had yellow. Ours are blue, purple and a weird yellow/brown mix.