I have been trying for about two weeks, off and on, to get a nice photo of this flower in bloom. Between winds, clouds, shade, focus, corn rootworm beetles that keep eating the open petals, this has been one of the most difficult flowers for me to get a picture of. I do not think I've had this many problems with any thing else.
The first time I went out today, it was in the shade of our garage. I tried flash and manual focus, but was not happy with any of it. I was determined to get a picture, so went back in and waited for the sun to move. I still struggled with getting the camera to focus!... on the flower! not the stuff behind it. Had to stop a time or two to kill rootworm beetles. Oh, I have a new grass, so get distracted with that because it has neat seeds. I took the off manual focus, just using landscape and finally! I have a picture I am happy with. I sure do not think I could ever do this for a living.