Strelitzia Flower, Backlit

Strelitzia flower (Strelitzia reginae) is rendered DayGlo orange by strong backlighting, Curry’s Post, KZN, South Africa. © Scotch Macaskill

Camera Gear: Canon EOS 50D; Canon EF 400mm f/5.6 L USM; Focal Length: 400mm; Shutter speed: 1/500; Aperture: f/5.6; ISO: 640; Exposure compensation: -1 EV

As the sun sank low in the sky, backlighting this strelitzia shrub, the orange sepals of the flowers were left glowing richly against the dark background.

To bring out the color correctly and not leave it looking washed out, I had to under-expose by a full stop as most cameras' light meters are easily fooled in this type of tricky lighting.

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