White Camellia, photo by Harold Davis. View this image larger.

When I saw this white camellia blossom with its complex and transparent shapes, I knew that I needed to photograph it.

But an image that is mostly black and white but is rendered in color needs to be lit carefully. I used several small LED lights to backlight the flower, along with some more subdued general lighting from either side.

Even so, the center of the flower was too dark (because it was not as transparent as the petals), and I had to build up the luminous feeling in Photoshop.

Related image: White Hellebore.

[Nikon D300, Zeiss 100mm f/2.5 Macro lens, ISO 100 and f/22, tripod mounted: two exposures, one at 1.3 seconds, the other at 0.5 seconds.]