Photographing Exotic Flowers

You are looking at a Bird of Paradise flower that I shot at a friends house.  The flowers have stunning colors, shapes and have fascinated me since the first time I had seen one.  While I have filmed many of these flowers, everyone seems to have a different look from the one next to it. How did I shoot this flower?! I started with a Nikon D90 using a 18 to 105mm lens, a fast lens but I was able to catch the sunlight on the flower that had a shadow in the background to give this "in your face" color.  I shot with a an f/stop of 16 and a shutter speed of 500th of a second.  When I start looking to shoot flowers, I become very aware of what is in the background. I have had to many really beautiful flowers that lost their impact because I did not watch what was in the background.  I find myself seeing some really beautiful flowers but I can't shoot them because of the background light. You will loose so much if your flower shot is lost in the background.  Remember to be patient about when you do decide to shoot flowers. You may have to get up very early to catch first light or very late in the day to catch those "golden hours" of light to light up your flower, yet leave your background in a way as to make your flower "pop" out of the picture.  Look for unusual and different angles, different patterns, even creatures (insects or animals) on or near your flower to not only give it a unique perspective, but to show nature being nature.
Patience is probably the most important element in getting the perfect flower photo. You will be richly rewarded if you have the "peace and harmony" when photographing things in nature. And don't forget to share those beautiful flower shots with us!!