Leading Off . . .
Sony A77II
Minolta 200mm macro
ISO 400, 1/100 @ f11
. . . the day lily season
Not the first of our day lilies to bloom this year because bad weather prevented me from getting the initial flower but this beauty bloomed this morning after an overnight rain shower. One of my favorite subjects and varieties. All comments welcome. >=))>
Bill, this is a real beauty. 
off to your gardener! Love the colors of this bloom. Nice shapes of the pedals as well.
Bill, this looks like it trumpeting spring. The arch of the flower and its inner parts sweeps well acriss the frame. The colors complement each other well. The two buds add a good sense of promise. I think your crop here works well.
One of your classic lily shots, Bill ! I like how you’ve got in really close, taking out the R side petal edges; it’s somehow more dynamic this way.
Bill,
As per usual, fabulous job on the details and color. that’s one beauty of a specimen.
I have to ask though, was there something on the right you were trying to avoid. I think a rare occasion to question your comps, but for me, the flow is going left to right - the base on the left and the front of the flower on the right - but it’s not complete! I’m wishing for the entire flower with more room on the right. So I highly suspect something unwanted on the right, out of frame.
Lon
Lon: Thanks for your observations. Of course these are large flowers and I rarely shoot the entire flower because of the surroundings. The BG on the right was pretty messy and one that would have been hard to mitigate. I’m still a single capture guy and haven’t ventured into stacking which may have provided a solution. Phil used stacking very effectively when shooting day lilies but I don’t have his processing skills. We’ve been blessed this spring with an abundance of flowers both in quality and quantity and sometimes its hard to decide what to include and what to shoot. On this bloom I wanted to emphasize the colors of the petals and also wanted to incorporate the buds. Day lilies are a staple of our garden and they’re just getting started. I can’t pass up the chance to shoot them even knowing that better things will surely come soon.
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