I’ve written previously about how much I love to photograph this particular pink lotus. Sadly, this year I haven’t gotten many photos of this beautiful plant (I just never seem to be in town for the best of her blooms). I’ve got a new lens that I’m really excited about taking some shots of her with, and there’s nothing quite like the frustration of having a new lens without your favorite subject to shoot.

This wallpaper comes from a round last year that produced a lot of really great images (you’ll likely see one or two more from that set in wallpaper form in coming weeks), some of the best I’ve ever taken. This particular shot was taken with a longer lens at 250 mm at f/5.6. The distance from the lens allowed me to get really great, creamy bokeh out of a lens that isn’t particularly fast, which is a trick that I really like. Of course, the downside of shooting like this is that you end up with a lot more motion blur. In this case I used a monopod to shoot. I love shooting with my monopod, as it allows me to get a lot of stability without all of the fuss and trouble (and expense) of a good tripod. It’s not nearly as stable as a tripod, though, so it requires a steady hand at longer lengths or with slower lenses, and at much longer than the 250mm that I used for this photo I would almost certainly go with a tripod. Still, if you’ve got a longer lens, it might be worth trying it out when shooting plants. As always, check out below for the wallpaper downloads.

Wide Open Lotus Heart

Image Credit: Bill Dubert
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