Lilium Longiflorum

Lilium longiflorum, the Latin name for the Easter Lily, is native to the Ryukyu Islands of southern Japan.

This ends my series on flowers. For now..
Which one do you like best?

Flowers Series: Tulips & Irises

The tulip, or lale (from Persian لاله, lâleh) as it is also called in Turkey, is a flower indigenous to Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and other parts of Central Asia.

Iris is a genus of between 200-300 species of flowering plants with showy flowers. It takes its name from the Greek word for a rainbow, referring to the wide variety of flower colors found among the many species.

All of the beautiful flowers I have photographed are from Sturgeon Bay Florist. They always have a wonderful selection of fresh flowers as you can see from my pictures.

Flower Series: Oriental Lily

The Oriental Lily Tiger Woods, ‘Lilium’, is a fabulous Oriental Lily that has classic white petals with red stripes down the centers.
I had fun shooting the flowers. It was relaxing.

New Studio Space & Bringing Spring

It's been a busy off season, getting ready for Spring and Summer. In December, I leased studio space. It is a nice sized space that allows me to shoot both large groups and individual portraits with ease. And it also has an area for a small office where I can meet with clients.

One room of the studio I painted all black, and the other room is painted all white with floor to ceiling windows on the south wall. The natural light is awesome.

I use the black room for most of my formal portrait work and product shots. The all black room gives me total control of the light. Even if I choose to use a white backdrop, the black walls suck up any fall off light.

The white room takes all of the beautiful window light and bounces it around the room. The light gets softer as I move to the rear of the room. I use this room for casual portraits and natural light shots.

The Winter here in the "Frozen Tundra" seems to be never ending so I decided to shoot some flowers to get me in the Spring mood.

I used a simple 3-light set up with a couple of reflectors. My goal was to get the steam lit from both sides to separate it from the background. The flower pedals are so thin that you have to really watch the highlights.

I shot this Calla Lily with my new 70-200mm 2.8 lens, shooting at f22, so I was able to retain a good focus even though I was 10 feet away.