The Daylilies
Here Today, Gone Tomorrow!

“Hemerocallis”, describes daylilies to a “T”. Perfect description for a gorgeous flower that comes and goes within a day.

The daylilies - one word, not day lilies - were once part of the Liliaceae family, with Lilium, the true lilies. They didn't fit in well and recently joined the Hemerocallidaceae family.

There are only about 15 species of Hemerocallis but there are thousands of cultivars! The species originated in China, Japan and Korea... but they've carved out their niche in North American gardens. In fact, we've embraced them with gusto!

Daylilies have captured the imagination of flower breeders everywhere... the wild and wonderful new cultivars are proof that they're very popular in our gardens.

They offer endless possibilities for flower photographers, especially if you also have a macro lens. Or try a lens-baby and exercise your imagination in the daylily garden.

I got several shots with a telephoto lens, but then I changed to my macro lens - a Nikon 105 mm. It was a sunny day and, luckily, there was lots of intermittent cloud cover... great opportunities for perfect lighting.

Light and “fluffy”! These yellow daylily blooms remind me of a lemon chiffon pie... both the lemony color and the puffy, light texture of the petals. I spent the day on Toronto Island - the gardens were terrific. Man, was I ever in flower heaven!

Now that so much photography is digital and not film, the photography process isn't as expensive... as far as paying for film and processing, that is! But just because you're shooting with a digital, don't just snap away. To improve the quality of your photos, take your time.

If you know the story you want to tell, then you have to think about your composition and your exposure carefully. The viewer should immediately “get it” because of how you set the shot up.

You DO KNOW that the first step in the picture-taking process is to decide on the story you want your photo to tell, right?

I really loved this garden of yellow daylilies! The curves of the filaments are so sensual and the yellow blends gently into the white. In a macro world, its easy to forget all about time and place.

There are so many details we would never see otherwise. Life in macro always is mesmerizing. If you've never looked through a macro lens, take a magnifying glass out to the garden and poke around with it for awhile. Amazing!

But work your flower from wide-angle, close-up and macro, as well as from all angles. Don't be afraid to stick to one flower for numerous shots. You're better off getting one or two “thumbs-up” shots than twenty you have to trash!

We've covered some composition and looked at a few macro pictures of daylilies. Speaking of macro shots, there's a resource I'll share with you. John has a site entirely devoted to macro photography and if you're interested in close-up work, he has lots of advice for you. This link will send you to his equipment page.

Get your creative juices flowing! Take some close-ups to show the more delicate detail in petals and leaves. If you have daylilies with ruffled edges, that makes it all the more interesting.

The lines and curves of daylily petals flow so beautifully. And the range of colors of the new cultivars are dazzling.

When you talking about color, you'll want to pay attention to your white balance. I'll talk a little about that with the next photo.

Daylilies are one of the easiest flowers to photograph well. So if you need a bit of practice, head out to a daylily garden!

This gorgeous, velvety, deep red is a hot and energetic color. And the combination of rich red and bright yellow together... always WOW! Nature is really bold with her color combinations and her colors never seem to clash.

You've probably had this experience... and haven't we all? ... the colors are unbelievable in the garden. You spend time setting up several shots. Then you load your files on to your computer, or get them printed.

Whoa! What happened? They don't look anything like they did in real life.

The problem - your white balance is out ot whack! Setting the correct white balance is crucial when you're shooting JPG pictures of daylilies, or anything else! Take the time before you get going. Here's a bit of advice...

You can use your camera white balance settings and that's easy enough. But the most accurate way is to use a test shot and set your white balance accordingly. Your own camera manual will tell you how to do that.

If you're shooting RAW, getting it right in camera isn't so important - it's easy to adjust in Camera RAW, Lightroom or Photoshop.

How about we go over just a few of the composition rules in these pictures of daylilies?

The front petal on this magenta daylily is in sharp focus. The rest of the flower is out of focus because of the shallow depth of field. That wasn't a mistake! I wanted to emphasize the texture of the wet petal and raindrops clinging to it.

It was raining gently off and on... only light cloud cover and the light was perfectly filtered. Flower color is always so rich during a rain and the red in this daylily just glows.

Raindrops on flowers always make great photos. To get clearly focused raindrops, you have to get in close and use a macro lens. Sometimes, if you're lucky, you can catch a perfect reflection in one perfect raindrop.

You absolutely must use a tripod and the timer or remote so you don't get camera shake.

The Rule of Thirds... in the first photo, the flower isn't centered, it falls in the lower two-thirds. And the two buds are in the top third. The center of the flower is on the lower right third.

In both pictures of daylilies, there are also lots of curves and angles in the petals, filaments and buds. Also the texture of the petals has repeating lines if you look closely.

I love these colors and the yellow ruffled edges! See the triangles formed by the petals, as well as the entire outline of the blooms? In the second photo, the point of the triangle extends outside the photo but your brain completes the pattern.

The depth of field is shallow so the entire flower is sharp and the background falls out of focus.

So tuck your tripod under your arm, and go armed with a macro if you have one. Choose fresh blooms with no brown spots and you're well on your way to getting some terrific pictures of daylilies.

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