I was going back through some of my images I made this summer and found this lotus right before it bloomed. It was in a pond next to a wildflower garden at my favorite botanical garden, hence the pastel colors in the BG.
Canon 40D, 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM
f2.8 @ 1/1600th, ISO 100
Manual mode, center-weighted metering
Handheld, bright noon sun
Processed in ACR & CS4. Small crop, curves adjustment. Lightened BG & did surface blur.
Lovely details on the bud. Liked those thin lines (texture) on the bud. Nice bokeh to go with.
However, I see some dark halos in small stretches around the edge of the bud (side effects of masking may be).
Jules,
Really nice BG, and pristine bud (hard to find those!). Well composed as usual. And you found an angle that makes the noon light look like backlight; well done!