BEST FLOWERS FOR FLORIDA

My wife bought these Orchids over Easter weekend and I figured that I would try to get a shot of them before they died. So, I set up a shot with a single flower and started shooting. After a few minutes, I turned around and noticed that Jasmine was helping by smelling and eating the flowers. So, I spun myself and one of my lights around and snapped a couple pictures of Jasmine and the rest of the flowers. When I went to review my pictures when I was done shooting, this one was more fun than the setup flower shot that I worked on, so Jasmine won out.

The lighting for this was my trusty SB-600 through the 24"x24" softbox camera left and high. It was a quick setup in order to catch the moment...I just moved the light and then shot a couple frames while adjusting the flash to get the exposure correct. I used the Nikon Nikkor 105mm lens on the Nikon D700 camera for this shot. Did I mention that I really love this lens. It is supposed to be a macro lens (or Micro in Nikon speak), but it is really great at taking ultra-sharp images from any distance.

**I apologize that I've fallen behind on leaving comments for all of you lately, I've been working on our taxes this week (oh what fun!).**

Wedding reception three years ago in Sfax, Tunisia. Nina and Lucy with the traditional jasmine flowers.

This also happened to be Lucy's birthday so these were the nicest of the dresses I'd bought for the 3-day wedding. A Jacquard weave made the satin fabric look extra special. They were large enough that they could be worn again two summers later.

It was also the last summer that I could buy dresses and the girls would wear them without question.