The Big Book of Iris Mariae, Negev Desert – A lesson in photography

March is the best time across Israel to enjoy the blossom of Irises (Oncocyclus). They are all majestic, but Iris mariae which grows in the Negev desert and endemic to the Negev and North Sinai, is particularly attractive, for its intense purple color. It was sunset time on Saturday March 23rd, 2019, on the sand dunes along road 222 between Revivim and Tseelim. Visitors have already left the area, and I had all Irises for myself to enjoy.

Back at the beginning of the 2000s, after I got my first digital camera, I used to take pictures of flowers. Observing them, paying attention to details while taking the pictures, were the “excuse” to expand my knowledge of Israeli flora. Several years have passed, and my focus in photography was aimed at other subjects. So this sunset time on the sand dunes with the beaufifful Negev Iris was an opportunity to test my blossom photography skills. This time with my smartphone, in addition to a DSLR camera.

I took dozens of pictures, and at home posted 10 of them on my Facebook feed, with the title: “The Big Book of Iris Mariae, Negev Desert 23.3.2019. Which one you like?”
It’s now time to analyze the results and draw some conclusions about people’s taste in photography.

So, here are the 10 photos (same order as on Facebook) and the number of likes each photo received after 5.5 days:

1

168

2

43

3

49

4

97

5

82

6

58

7

41

8

76

9

42

10

56

 

The results are quite interesting!

 

• Three out of four leading photos (1, 4, 8) were taken using my smartphone, with built-in HDR processing, and a slight enhancement of this effect at post processing. Seems like people prefer HDR enhanced photos.
• I put my favorite photo first (1), and indeed it got the most likes. Here, combination of back lighting, vivid colors, HDR, and the angle, were the winning combination.
• On 3rd place, the single Iris (5) was taken using my DSLR camera. Strengths of this photo: Successful back light effect maintaining vivid colors, and the clear and distinct subject.
• People did not prefer photos in which no distinct subject appears, colors are less intense, and contrast is mild.
• I was surprised that photo 9 did not get much likes, even though the Iris pair and the buds on the background make a clear subject with an interesting composition.

 

For more photos of flowers and nature of Israel, checkout this page.