[/caption] There in nothing more beautiful and energizing than photographing tulips in the early months of Spring in the Pacific Northwest. However, finding a perfect sunny day can be somewhat difficult and challenging. I took this shot last April but unfortunately the tulips were very stressed due to the rainy and cold weather that stunted their growth. Last Spring was unseasonably cold, rainy and muddy, which created a very challenging situation for the many photographers that frequent the tulip festivals that dot the Northwest. I took this shot while kneeling down in the mud and positioned my camera towards the sky hoping to get a good shot. Since I was in such a peculiar position I wasn’t able to use my tripod so I had to be sure to keep a steady hand and keep it level. I was using my Sigma 50mm prime/macro lens which helped capture the shot. I attached my warming filter in order to maximize the color of the flower and take advantage of the suns rays. I was only about 8 inches from the flower which allowed me to get a good focus on the center tulip and it stem but kept the rest of the tulips out of focus. The shutter speed was 1/99 second and the aperture was set at F-4 since I had the ISO at 100 and the white balance at -0.3.