#8 Plants, 2nd Place – “Thawing Beauty” by Jay Birmingham
‘I am fortunate enough to live near a location where snake’s head fritillaries grow natively. Broad Meadow, near Tamworth in the UK, floods regularly and creates the ideal conditions for these beautiful flowers. The flowers move easily in the wind, so I waited for a morning where there was no breeze. There had also been an overnight frost. This combined with the mist and rising sun, created some beautiful conditions for photography.
In order to maximise focus and make sure the flower stood out against the background, I shot wide open at f/2.8 using a 180mm macro lens. I then stacked a few images together where I had focused on different parts of the flower.’