Lotus & Water Lilies at Innisfree Garden

Near Millbrook, NY is a landscaped garden, Innisfree.  Surrounding a lake, the landscape is designed in a series of  "cup gardens," using the natural stone and water features as a base to make picturesque scenes. A particularly notable feature of the garden is the lotus plants.

Not only is the flower lovely but the locust pods are very photogenic as well.  This kind of image works best with a shallow depth of field (i.e., the background out of focus), etching the foreground image and directing your eye to where you want it to go.

The water lilies cover the surface of the lake.  Every photographer has water lily photos -- they just photograph so well and they are easy to get to. Hence, I am not including my water lily shot, which is pretty standard. This, of course, is just a water lily leaf, but I liked its graceful shape. But I particularly love the variations on the water color, caused by light and shadow.

There may be a stray water lily in this shot, but what it is really about is texture, repetition and color.  For this type of shot, it's best to stay in the shade - the sun burns out the highlights, leaving you with less color in the image.

Finally, an example of a vista arranged for visitors by the landscape designer.