springtime in Shanghai

Magnolia on Tree, Shanghai

Spring is here, sort-of, and some flowers are blooming. This magnolia is on a tiny tree in our housing compound. The tree is completely covered with these amazing blossoms. No leaves yet, just flowers.

I experimented with different illumination schemes but used a classic diffuse white umbrella key light with some hard, snooted rimlight to help separate it from the not-perfectly dark background. Setup shot is here.

The front petal blew out a little bit. I had to up the flash power and stop down the lens to get the depth of field I needed - the wind was blowing and I got lots of focus errors with the lens wide open.

I used a spray bottle to enhance the dew. I used my flashlight to help the autofocus work in the dark, as well as for composition.