Absolutely stunning photograph, William. Perfection and my pick for best in category!

perfect and enchanting

All the photos submitted by William were really, really good.

Many thanks friends. Very happy you enjoyed this little one

You're an excellent photographer, William. What kind of camera do you use for capturing plants?

Della, I use a DSLR. If you want specifics it's a Nikon D300, which by now is quite old, but it still works well enough for me.

needrain said:All the photos submitted by William were really, really good.

Indeed!
Yes, William, it seems to work well enough for you!!
I see enormous composition and editing skills beyond your 'old' camera here, too

Thanks William. Seeing as I manage with a simple point and shoot, the finer side of 'real' photography is a bit of a mystery to me, so I asked. I wouldn't know where to begin when considering a 'real' camera to purchase (though really I could only afford to get something older second hand). I'd like to get similar effects to what you achieved here with the Eranthis. I get so frustrated sometimes with what the point and shoot decides to shoot for me! And when it resolutely refuses to see the same colours I am seeing!!

Della, regarding your camera I do understand your frustration. I think most cameras have a lot of trouble rendering colors correctly for macros. Unless your camera has some specific issues with one color (for instance red can be extra difficult for some cameras) this often has to do with how the white balance is set internally. It's very hard for a camera processor to know exactly what color a bright flower should have and it's much easier for it to adjust white balance for a scene with more neutral colors. Personally I often need to change the white balance manually in post processing, often using several tools. It can be very hard to remove these color casts!

I'm going to assume that you with 'similar effects' mean the out of focus background and foreground? This is easier to achieve on cameras with larger sensors, but this is also very much a function of using a very long focal length and a low shooting angle. In this case I was at 500mm, but that is rather extreme and often you can get away with a shorter focal length.

Buying second hand (from a reputable source) sounds like a great idea to me, if you decide that you need/want to upgrade your tools .

Yes, that's the effect I mean! I want to do that!

Haha... I think my camera has trouble with reds... (it sees brown), purples (what purple? is it blue or red?), and yellows - everything is yellow. Especially where there's lots of green leaves - they all look chlorotic when they're not!

Excellent explanation of what you do.

I absolutely loved your photo! Great perspective too! Excellent!