By Jim Zuckerman
I did very little macro photography of plants and flowers in Costa Rica last week. A photographer could spend the rest of his or her life doing nothing but flowers in the tropics and be very happy. However, I was concentrating mostly on the wildlife because I find animals more fascinating, and it’s definitely an exciting moment when you can overcome the challenges and get something really good.
At mid-day, however, most animals are not active. They retire to the deep shade of the jungle out-of-sight, so during those hours I photographed some of the flora. This passion flower had fallen on the ground, so I placed the tripod right above it and shot with f/32 for complete depth of field. My ISO was 200 and the shutter speed was .8 seconds.
Note that there are three things that make this a successful picture. First, the lighting is soft and diffused, the ideal type of lighting for flowers. There is no harsh contrast and no black shadows that have lost detail. Second, the graphic design of the flower is beautiful. The radial pattern is visually attractive. And third, the color contrast of the red flower against the earthy colors of the leaves is striking.
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