Lily Pad Study #5 - Missouri Botanical Gardens

I've seen some nice shots of the Chihuly glass onions in the Missouri Botanical gardens lily ponds, but I really don't like them.  A long lens helps to shoot around them, but it isn't easy!  The wind blows these pads around quite a bit.  I got set up, then had to wait about 20 minutes for the second pad from the top to drift back into the frame.  My Manfrotto 486 RC2 ball head was also drifting quite a bit because the camera/lens combo is just too heavy for it.
Technical: Nikon D700, Nikkor AF 180mm f2.8 ED-IF, ISO 200, Cokin circular polarizer, f/16 @ 1/30s, tripod, ball head, cable release.

Water Lily With Insect - Missouri Botanical Gardens

I've been eager to try out my new Nikkor AF 180mm f2.8 ED-IF "Leni" lens at the botanical gardens, but it wound up being an exercise in frustration because my Manfrotto 486RC2 ball head is not heavy duty enough to support it.  I was hoping to do some HDR work, but the frame kept drifting during the brackets.  I'd love to hear recommendations for medium priced ball heads.  The "Leni" lens is really magnificent!  I wish I'd purchased one much sooner.

Technical: Nikon D700, Nikkor AF 180mm f2.8 ED-IF, ISO 200, Cokin circular polarizer, f/16 @ 1/15s, using tripod, ball head and cable release.  The polarizer made a big difference in color saturation.  RAW file processed in Lightroom 2 to straighten (fixing ball head drift), apply Nikon's Camera Vivid profile (first time I've actually used it) and burn in the foreground -1.0 (the light was very flat).

Infrared Water Lily Pads - MoBot

Nikon D100, ISO 200, 105mm Micro w/Polarizer and Hoya R72 Infrared filters, f/16 @ 1/6s, Bogen tripod and ball head.  The original is dark red and very flat, despite the backlight.  Retouching in Photoshop CS4 to remove coins on the upper left pad and a stray leaf on the foreground pad, then Sepia conversion in Lightroom 2.  After some hit and miss results, I find that the best workflow for digital Infrared is to edit in Photoshop first, then finish up in Lightroom.

Three Lily Pads

Early September, late afternoon light at Mobot. Shooting around the Chihuly glass is getting very difficult! Nikon D100, ISO 200, 105mm Micro w/Polarizer and graduated ND, f/16 @ 1/15s using -0.5 exposure compensation.

Infrared Test 2a - Water Lily - MoBot

Here is the final picture for Infrared Test 2 - Water Lily. First in Lightroom 2 I added a gradient, tilted slightly from the upper right. Next, some dodging, burning and spot clean-up in Photoshop CS2. Finally, back in Lightroom 2, applied the standard sepia preset and dialed down the default highlight levels. I think I'm finished...

Infrared Lily Pad Study

Continuing with infrared experiments... Nikon D100, 105mm + Infrared filter, f/11, 1/5s. The saturated red image converted to albumin print color in Lightroom.

Water Lily Study 1

This time of year you can see water lilies in all stages of development. Nikon D100, ISO 200, 105mm, f/8.0, 1/250s. I used the Lightroom Selenium Transform for toned grayscale confversion.