Early Purple Orchid

This is quite a common orchid in the UK. This particular pair were taken quite late in the afternoon, but when the sunlight was still harsh. I set up a line of camera bags, beanbags and jackets to cast shade over the foreground grass (the background is a distant hedgerow in shade). I didn't want the orchid itself to be in shade as the blue sky would have created a cool blue cast, therefore I placed a litedisc diffuser between the sun and the orchid. This softened the light whilst still allowing it to illuminate the main subject. A gold reflector was placed to reflect just a little light onto the shaded left side of the orchid.

EOS 1Ds, EF500/4L IS, ISO 100, 1/125th @ F5.6, Beanbag, IS mode 1