Soft as a lady's slipper

[Steve Foss]

I went hunting for a clump of yellow ladyslippers I'd found last summer after they'd bloomed. There were 10-12 stalks all in a single clump, and I'd never seen such a profusion of yellow ladyslippers like that before.

It was a slog through the bog, and when I got to the spot (the clump was agreeably situated next to the trunk of a low-hanging old cedar), I was pretty excited and hopeful.

But a logging operation had downed a bunch of young cedar and pushed them into a big pile right where the ladyslippers had been last year.

Time for plan B. Went to the spot Ken and I shoot them, because you'll recall from Ken's nice pics of that spot that they're growing there in numbers I haven't seen in the four years or so I've been photoghraphing them at that spot.

The first one in particular was kept soft and muted on purpose, with a minimum of saturation and contrast to keep it a bit dreamy looking.

Both with the Canon 30D

A quiet triangle

Canon 70-200 f2.8L at 160mm, iso125, 1/30 at f7.1, -1 exposure compensation off evaluative metering, diffusion disc, tripod

Five of a kind

Canon 17-40L at 29mm, iso125, 1/4 at f22, tripod, remote shutter release, mirror lock-up, -2/3 EC off evaluative metering

[Dbl]

Nice work and beautiful flowers.

[buzzsaw]

The first one belongs in a book and in a frame. You are the flower whisperer.

[finnbay]

Very nice! Different kind of day today, and it gave you some great exposure light. Really like the composition in the first one.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks guys. I've stopped photographing yellows in the sunlight. Even with a diffusion disc killing a lot of the sun, the waxy pouches reflect so many highlights it's almost impossible to expose them nicely.

So luckily, today there was a light rain falling when I got there, and still I had to use the diffusion disc to nearly completely kill the hot spots, with the - EC doing most of the rest. A small bit of cloning zapped the remaining few hot spots.

Ahhh, the challenges. They never end.

Buzz, I like that nickname!

[Catmendo]

One again great job Steve. That gentel triangle is a super piece of work, great eye and great imagination too, well done!