Shot #38

Always a pretty subject, the iris on the driveway.  This evening the light was both diffused and even, and there was no wind to speak of.  This lack of wind enabled me to use a longish exposure and not get much in the way of movement blur.  I was intrigued by the idea of having two flowers in the shot, but with one out of focus.  I wasn't sure about the diagonal leaf.  Part of me quite likes it as it give a bit of depth to the image, especially as the second bloom is behind it.

I tried different apertures, but really needed a shallow depth of field to keep the background from confusing the image too much.  There's a lot of leaves, stalks, twigs etc. that would take your eye away from the main subject.

Camera mounted on a tripod, 50mm, f2.8, 1/50sec, ISO 200 spot metering and focus on the centre of the iris flower.