Waterlilies in full bloom at CBG - Jack Carlson Photography

Capturing water lily color is always great fun.

Shadows and angles always add interest.

Bring a long lens to stay dry.

This just in: A student has just informed me that his trip to the Chicago Botanic Garden’s Heritage and Bulb Gardens found the waterlilies to be in full bloom. He added that there is quite a selection of them to photograph. My advice would be to bring a tripod, use a low ISO setting and begin with every photographer’s best friend f8. Use exposure compensation to hold down the light in one-third stop increments unless the lily is bright white. Keep the light level up for these lilies.

Get to the garden early for reduced heat and visitor levels. Remember to fill the frame to reduce/eliminate those BMD (boring middle distance) shots.

18mm, f8 @ 1/30, no filter

18mm, f8 @ 1/80 with 3-stop ND Grad

I received a 3-stop, soft-edge ND grad filter from the Camera Clubhouse cats. They decided to purchase from Breakthrough Photography since I mentioned that one of my students brought Breakthrough Filters to a recent class and, on inspection, the filters seemed to be very well made. An ND Grad filter starts dark and fades to clear so the placement of the dark portion is determined by both the bright part of the scene and the photographer. This filter made quite a difference in holding down the sun in the upper part of the image. Check out the “no-filter” image and ND Grad image. The difference will amaze you. Please note: I have no affiliation with Breakthrough Photography and chose them only based on student referral.

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