Private Bath
by Jess Williams
Many of my floral shots come from my greenhouse. Here's the story about this one. I had just heavily sprayed my daisies, trying to control a small outbreak of aphids. I had released ladybugs into my greenhouse the night before. I had my back turned to this daisy, watering other plants, and when I turned around, I saw this ladybug under the petals and this large water "pool" in the center of the flower. I quickly went to get my camera. When I came back, he was crawling down the stem, so I coaxed him back toward the pool and got this shot. I hope he and his companions enjoyed the private bath after I left.
Canon Rebel XTi
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro Telephoto @ 238mm
1/800 at f/9
ISO 1600 (oops - forgot to change this from the night before!)
handheld
PP in Adobe PS
African daisy inside my greenhouse, June 2012
Comments
15 comments@John -- I agree that the settings were not ideal. I tend to get overly excited about getting bug shots and forget to check and make sure my techs are right. ;)
@Eirini -- yes, it was just water. I don't use any pesticides or chemicals when I garden. In this case, I had sprayed each flower with a pretty big stream of water directly into the middle to try and "drown them out" and prevent them from fleeing into the middle of the flower. There are a few techniques I was trying such as selective watering, using a tomato leaf-water mixture, etc. I eventually lost the war with the aphids and had to remove my peppers and daisies from the greenhouse in order to save the rest of the plants. :( (Here's a shot of the same plant with the nasty aphids : http://gardeningup.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/daisy_053012.png)
D&L
Take care.