Yellow Lily

[Dave Mills]

Shot this yesterday at Longwood Gardens with friends, Roman K,Susan Candelario, Nick Palmieri and Anthony(Susan's husband). This time I was concentrating on more than water lilies and looked at Orchids and other plants..
Nikon D300,200mm Macro,F22,1/60,twin flashes,-2/3 comp,tripod mtd

[Steve Maxson]

This is a striking image, Dave. Excellent comp, sharpness, and DOF and I really like the soft lighting you achieved with your flash. Very well done.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Dave,
You did a nice job isolating this one and the soft light against the BG is very nice! I like the way you got the pistels?....seperated from the stamen. Only recommendation....tweak the stamen tip to get a hair more seperation from the BG.....but minor tweak to a very nicely composed lily.

[kostas nianiopoulos]

Hi Dave great image , the black BG is natural ?

[Susan Candelario]

Hey Dave,

I really like this one... color, comp, b/g, details & sharpness. Your use of flash was handled very well. Way to go!;)

[denise ippolito]

Dave, It sounds like you guys had a great time at Longwood. I really like the composition and the very nice details. Well done.

[Dave Mills]

Thanks everyone for the comments...appreciate it!
Kostas, the backround was about 90% black since it was far away and I was inside an aborateum shooting with a flash. The small areas that are recognizeable I filled in...

[Julie Kenward]

Those yellows are sumptuous, Dave! Beautifully sharp yet the petals retain all their softness. I love the black BG against the soft yellows but agree that a little more separation around the pistil head would be nice. Very dramatic image!

[Nick Palmieri]

Great DOF and nice isolation Dave. Amazing all the photographers at Longwood and no one but our crew was shooting with flash (I think you convinced the one guy to add his flash). These sample images are proof that flash works even in sunlight. I like your placement of the flower in the frame.

[Ken Childs]

Great comp and wonderful control of the light. Roman's suggestion of some minor work on that stamen tip is a good one.

[Jonathan Ashton]

A beautiful image, great lighting and I think the black background compliments the flower very well indeed. i note thejsquare composition and i think this works well too, my natural inclination would be to make it rectangular but this works better.

[Dave Mills]

Thanks for the comments folks...

[Anita Bower]

Beautiful image. Lovely soft yellow against dark bg works well. As someone commented--good job choosing an angle where the stamen. Simple and beautiful.