About the Image(s)

Each year Longwood Gardens exhibits their exotic Himalayan blue poppies in the Conservatory for about two weeks. The exhibit brings busloads of tourists and a shoulder-to-shoulder scrum of photographers. I went on a cold day last week when there were few visitors to try many variations with two macro lenses, a 15 mm and a more conventional 105 mm. Instead of the close-ups showing prickly spines, I'm choosing a trio photo in stages of opening. Equipment was a Nikon Z7 with Nikkor 105 mm f/2.8 macro lens, polarizing filter and ambient 'greenhouse' lighting. Exposure was ISO 400, 1/60 second, f/8. Post processing in Photoshop Elements cleaned up the background.