The Venice Florida Orchid Society presents an annual orchid show. When I enter the community center the heady fragrance of multiple kinds of orchids enchants me. Various area orchid societies and orchid growers create exhibits. The orchid growers also have a large sales area. The difficult part about making orchid portraits in this setting is the abundance of orchid plants vying for attention. This year I used an off-camera flash to illuminate the flowers from a high angle and let the diminishing light provide separation from the background. Another method, where the flash is too far from the orchids, is to use a slow shutter speed, but this requires a tripod. Fortunately our camera club arranged for us to arrive before the official opening time and use tripods for an hour. I chose these orchids as a series because they contain white.
