“Yellow Coneflower – Ratibita pinnata”
“Some painters transform the sun into a yellow spot, others transform a yellow spot into the sun. “
– Pablo Picasso
The Yellow Coneflowers literally quiver in the slight breeze, their delicate petals, like small yellow rags, seem to barely hang on.
Such is the scene in a local field, where Yellow Coneflowers are common. Even the gentle breeze of a hot summer day create movement in these flowers. It’s very nice to look at, but proves a challenge to photograph. Thus, I made the decision to harvest a blossom for the studio.
It was an opportunity to really look deep into the structures that make up this delicate summer blossom, from the tender yellow petals to the complex structure of the ‘cone’ from which the plant takes its name.
It was a bit of a tough shot to light, the petals so bright and the details of the cone, lost in shadow, yet it turned out alright and drew my attention to the small green frills, known as ‘sepals’ through which the petals emerge. The things we don’t notice, show up in the right light.
Nikon D800
Tamron SP AF 90mm f/2.8 Di Macro 1:1 (272ENII)@90mm
2.0 sec, f/36.0, ISO 100
High Resolution Image on 500px
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Ed Lehming Photography 
Lovely shot. How did you get such a dark background?
Black velvet
Oh cool. I actually got a few shots like that at a botanical garden with lucky lighting and shadows behind a few flowers once. I was wondering if you did it manually or not. Beautiful flower!
It’s all done manually, so I get the blacks completely black and retain the colour of the flowers.
A fun experiment that paid off