Daylily "What About Me"
Growing daylilies is a hobby of mine & I have several gardens filled with daylilies around the house. This particular DL was hybridized by Bobbie Brooks and...
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Growing daylilies is a hobby of mine & I have several gardens filled with daylilies around the house. This particular DL was hybridized by Bobbie Brooks and is a stunner in the garden.
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Mar, 2018Views
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Awards
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Peer Award
Absolute Masterpiece
Superb Composition
Outstanding Creativity
Magnificent Capture
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Behind The Lens
Location
In my own yard - I have an extensive daylily garden with about 500 daylilies. This daylily happens to be in front of the Arborvitae next to the house. It's a great background. Having a dark or neutral background without any distractions makes your image really stand out. You want the observer of the photograph to have their eyes drawn right into the subject at first glance.Time
This was taken in the daytime - usually I take the shots of my flowers in the morning hours. Just in case it rains later or the sun bleaches out the color in the heat of the afternoon. However, depending on the weather, I try late afternoon & evening shots as well. Overcast days are the best because you don't get any glare.Lighting
No flash or special lighting. Just normal outdoors natural light.Equipment
I used my Nikon Coolpix P900 camera - handheld. I rarely use a tripod. I got this camera because I specialize in nature photography and this camera has an amazing zoom lens. However, you can use it for anything - even close ups.Inspiration
I take photos of each & every one of my flowers during the summer months. I take a photo on the first day a flower blooms and every day after that. In order to get wonderful nature photos you have to take many shots usually until the right one appears. I love my flowers - especially my daylilies. This was a new one that I had planted the fall before and I hadn't seen it in person until it finally bloomed the following summer. This one is a really great subject due to it's great contrasting colors that really pop. As well as the great design is has on the interior of the bloom. The daylilies I raise have been bred by "Hybridizers" that are looking for certain qualities when they breed flowers. Some of them are trying to get a certain color combination - others are trying for a certain design or pattern. Still others are going for height and strength and even fragrance. I am not a hybridizer myself - I just enjoy what others have created.Editing
Not on this particular photo. However, sometimes I will do retouching. Let's say I have a great flower photo & didn't realize at the time there was a fly on it. I will remove that darn fly. However, I prefer not to have to do that. Sometimes I will adjust the saturation, or highlights to compensate for something that doesn't look right. Or if I want to be wild and crazy I may turn up the contrast really high or similar things to get a certain effect.In my camera bag
I don't carry a bag with me around my own home. However, if I'm going somewhere else then I take several cameras, extra batteries, lenses, just normal stuff.Feedback
I think part of taking a really good photo is you have to really love what you're doing. If you're having a good time & are eager to get a good shot then the chances are higher that you'll get one. You do also have to have a certain amount of patience - especially with moving subjects (such as birds). I've learned over the years to pay attention to the background a lot. When taking photos around the house I've gotten great images only to be ruined by the following things: garden hoses laying in the grass, name tags near flowers (yes, they are all named), cars in the driveway, outside furniture, a shovel, bags of dirt, fencing and yellow or brown leaves or weeds.If you survey your subject before hand, you can easily fix some of those issues. In my case if I take a photo at home in my garden and I realize that something looks bad after I load it onto the computer and look at it carefully - I can go right back out & correct it. This is not so simple if you're out and about in the general world. So it's even more important to try and look around & observe the background that will be in your shot. Try to make it work with your subject. Be creative. Have fun!
