A single Showy Milkweed flower - part of a dense, globular umbel or cluster - is covered with morning dew. I made this shot last summer, in early morning when there was no wind. The sun was already up, and I didn't want shadows and hot spots from the ensuing contrast, so I poked around to find a blooming milkweed plant in the shade.
After that, set up was fairly easy.
I used my standard macro procedure: tripod and cable release, locking up the mirror prior to exposure. In post-processing I made a slight correction to remove the blue cast (adding some yellow and magenta) and warm up the colour a little. The colour here is exactly as I remember it. These individual flowers are very tiny, 1/3 to 1/2 inch in diameter.
For us in the northern hemisphere summer seems a long way off, but I'm sure it will roll around on schedule. Meanwhile, here in southwestern Saskatchewan we are currently basking in temperatures hovering around 0°C and scheduled to soar as high as 10° on Saturday. That would break all existing records. A touch of false spring before we inevitably slide back into the deep freeze.
Photographed in Grasslands National Park, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission © 2019 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
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