Spotted Touch-Me-Not

[Ed Vatza]

Spent a couple of hours early this morning at Jacobsburg State Park (PA) in search of flowers. It turned out to be a pretty good morning - overcast, dewy, not too hot. And I was able to work with a nice variety of wildflowers including the Pale Touch-Me-Nots, Yellow Daisies, Butter-and-Eggs, Evening Primrose and this flower - the Spotted Touch-Me-Not.

I went with a lateral view because I wanted clear definition of the "gills". I made images at aperture values from f/4.5 to f/16 but settled in on f/8 as providing the best combination of dof and background.

Conditions: Overcast and dewy
Time: About and hour after sunrise

Gear: Canon Rebel XT, Sigma 150mm Macro lens, Canon 430 EX Flash with LumiQuest Softbox, all tripod-mounted with a Novoflex Focusing Rail.

1/100 sec at f/8; ISO 800; -2/3 EV; FEC -1

[Daniel Cadieux]

Nice one Ed! I love these flowers (we call them Jewelweeds), and they popular with hummingbirds too. Seems like it could use a bit more room above for the unopened flower, and I'd look at toning down some of the highlights. I really like the dew drops in the center, and the lone one on the bud :-)

[Kaushik Balakumar]

Nice image Ed. Liked the angle u've chosen to shoot this one. Would agree with Daniel on providing some space on top. I would still be interested in viewing the image with slightly more DOF.

[Ed Vatza]

I would still be interested in viewing the image with slightly more DOF.

Same image at f/16. Well not the same but the same. You know what I mean. I just like the bg a bit more at f/8.

[Aristotle Georgiou]

Excellent presentation Ed, really like the composition and BG at F/8.