Delving deep inside a flower...

[Daniel Cadieux]

I'm sure some of you will know it right away, but I'll let you guess which type of flower this is:S3: I took many more "traditional" images too...but I had a bit of fun with stacked extention tubes...not sure if it works (I'm a bit concerned about the OOF top corners - my goal was to get the deepest vertical "entrance" lines sharp), but it was lots of fun to experiment!!

Canon 7D + Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 lens @59mm + stacked 20 & 36mm extention tubes, aperture priority, evaluative metering, 1/30s., f/13, ISO 800, -1.3 EC, natural light (dodged the deeper shaded whites in post), handheld, full-frame.

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Daniel. I'm going to guess that this is a Stemless Lady Slipper. This is a unique perspective and one that I haven't seen before - so kudos for creativity. :S3: I'm impressed that you could get this sharpness (within your narrow DOF) hand holding this rig at 1/30 sec! I'm debating the DOF here - I tend to prefer more, rather than less, DOF and I think I would like the image better if there was more sharpness on either side of the sharp vertical lines. This is personal taste and other folks may disagree. :S3: The OOF top corners are not bothering me - in the context of a shallow DOF image. More DOF could have been achieved at a higher f/stop, but that would have required the use of a tripod to steady the camera. It will be interesting to hear other peoples thoughts on this one.

[Roman Kurywczak]

Hey Daniel,
You've got to get yourself a dedicated macro! You are a natural at this! Not sure about the central comp....but given the stacked tubes....not sure you could have gone a bit more diagonal and not introduced some other unwanted elements. That being said....I do kind of like the way the images seems to flow out the center and the falloff seems balanced. Like Steve, I may have preferred a bit more dof....but it still works well as presented also. Really nice job with the natural light too!

[Anita Bower]

This is lovely. the colors are softly marvelous--those of a sunset. I like the strong vertical with the diagonal lines curving downward. Nice flow. I experimented with running it through a high pass filter and brightened up the yellow a tad, and liked it a bit better. You did an amazing job handheld! I wonder what you could do if you used a tripod?

[Daniel Cadieux]

Hi Daniel. I'm going to guess that this is a Stemless Lady Slipper.

Ha! I knew it wouldn't take long:S3: It is indeed a Stemless Lady's Slipper (AKA Moccasin Flower). Thanks for your thoughts on the image.


Hey Daniel,
You've got to get yourself a dedicated macro!

Exactly what I thought when I saw Steve's larva image. I like the gear I have for macro, but don't love it. I'm sure something better is in the (hopefully near) future!!


This is lovely. the colors are softly marvelous--those of a sunset. I like the strong vertical with the diagonal lines curving downward. Nice flow. I experimented with running it through a high pass filter and brightened up the yellow a tad, and liked it a bit better. You did an amazing job handheld! I wonder what you could do if you used a tripod?

Thanks Anita, I'm glad you like it. I'll give that high pass filter a try...

[Mitch Haimov]

I like this one just the way it is, Daniel. Not surprising, as I am very fond of shallow DOF abstract images. Symmetrical composition works well.