Yellow marigold

I cannot believe the wildflowers in front of my house are still in full bloom. The nights tend to have about freezing temperatures for some time. And yet, looking at my flower bed, nothing has changed and bachelor buttons, tickseeds and marigolds decorate and add color to the neighborhood. At least something better then those obtrusive lawn lights.

Now it is even more difficult then it was in summer to find a day and time to photograph them. Before I am done with dinner on weekdays, it is already dark. And there is hardly a day without some wind in fall. I found a bit of quiet time on Saturday, and had a blast.

My D300 usually does a great job with Auto White Balance setting. But that Saturday evening, for some reason, decided to render the dark green stars as blue. Strange, but I really liked how the cold color contrasted with screaming hot yellow flower on the top of the frame. I just had to make sure that the flower kept the color. The vertical frame enabled me to fill the frame with this macro subject, without leaving any, unnecessary here, negative space. The only trick was to find the depth of field to keep the stem in focus, but make the petals dreamy lines of color.