Choosing a favorite image this week was quite an endeavor. I labored over each image, printing them several times before settling on a favorite. It was close enough that I’ve posted the runner-up below as well. Both were taken at one of the fish ponds at our corporate offices at Esri. While most people walk past them without looking, I’m constantly looking for photo subjects. This is especially when I haven’t shot a daily image yet! The iris was shot on my way into the office one morning, and the water lily was shot on my way home. I especially like the way the iris cuts the background into two areas of different color, which is why I selected it as my favorite image of the week.
Iris
Fujifilm X-T2, Fujinon XF 18-55 f/2.8-4 R LM OIS at 55mm, f/8 at 1/125, ISO 800
Digital Darkroom. I started by removing a leaf from the image- it was large, out-of-focus, and distracting. After that I made the usual tweaks to exposure and contrast, and then added just a touch of vibrance. The largest impact change was to add a radial filter around the flower, nudging exposure down and popping the clarity. Adjusting clarity in the radial filter rather than globally allowed me to keep the background nice and blurred, putting additional emphasis on the flower.
Alternate Image. This water lily took a lot more work to get perfect. I started by removing a dead leaf, but that was the easy part. I raised the exposure by a full stop, which was nice, but left the bright areas too distracting. I had to really crank down the highlights and whites to bring it back. Even so, the right side of the image was still too bright, so I pulled in a graduated filter from the right to lower exposure and highlights. Another radial filter centered on the flower added exposure, clarity and saturation. Finally, I increased the saturation of the green and aqua tones to make the leaves look as lush as I remembered them.
WIRR stands for Weekly Image Rich Ruh. This regular feature on Das Has von Ruh will show and describe my favorite photo created during this weekly period. My weeks start on Mondays, as does the WIRR. I’m hoping to include commentary on the story, the setting, the specs, or the sentiments, depending on the circumstances.
Das Haus von Ruh 