A combination of texture and colour

This is an almost lucky shot.  I was wandering around the garden armed with my EOS400D and macro lens, trying to find something to photograph on a dull, Winter day.  This is harder than it sounds because the garden is north facing and, even if there is sunlight in February, not much makes it into the garden.

At the bottom of the garden I found that our winter flowering Viburnum was starting to show signs of Spring, so I tried a few shots.  I had originally been tinkering with the idea of finding some contrasting backgrounds to brighten my pictures, but I think the muted background (an almost out of control ivy) sets off the light greens and pinks of the viburnum very well.

As I was handholding the camera and the light was low I had upped the ISO and reduced the aperture, the latter being responsible for throwing out the background so well.  I wasn’t very hopeful of getting a decent shot with such a wide aperture, but I am particularly pleased with the fact that the furry texture of the opening buds was picked up.  I also think a square crop works well with this picture and allows the subject to move across the diagonal.

On to the technical bits – ISO400, 100mm macro lens, f/5.0, 1/100 secs.