June is for irises .:. 9 macro photo

This was my post for Photofeed Macro Photography challenge, round 78. Till May, 31 it went on vacations but soon (I believe) should be back.

On the first week of June me and my family escaped from metropolis and spent two days enjoying all the nature could give us: sun, rain, cold, mosquitos, midges, fresh air, paths overgrown with knee-deep grass that need to be mowed, an evening fire, coffee that is brewed simply without any gadgets - using the “boiling water in a cup” method, and of course wildlife around. Lots of wild life - in some aspects even more than I'd like!

I carefully looked through the viewfinder of my camera at many flowers, insects, and snails. But most of all there were mosquitoes and midges - I didn’t photograph them; on the contrary, I tried to keep as much distance as possible (but, alas, this is hardly possible). I will eagerly look forward to July and August, when mosquito numbers will be reduced to a tolerable minimum.

Focus stake of 3 shots (one for each petal).

This is the macro focus stake - the image was created from four separate captures. (Clickable for hi-res).

Separate images had less focus zone:

Focus stake of 3 shots.

I love to watch the irises decay, they have an irresistible beauty for me.
And of course, all those patterns, gradients and tints.

Currently, we have left at our location with two varieties of irises only: purple and yellow ones. Both are wild species and have many small flowers. (Moreover, yellow ones grow mostly in a gutter, in water as this is a swamp variety).

Dozen years ago my wife and I tried to plant different garden varieties of irises with fantastic huge flowers of various colors... alas! Quite quickly they all stopped blooming and 'dissociated' among other plants of our garden. Irises prefer sun, dry and well-lit areas ... and our garden is pretty shaded, the trees block the sun for most part of the day.

One way or another, garden irises turned out to be pickier than wild ones, and deprived us of their company :) so we found consolation with these wild ones - every June.