I have picked my favourite photograph from May 2007 – this gorgeous aquilegia bloom in purple, cream and yellow. I had wondered about whether I wanted to choose another flower picture (following similar themes in April and March) but decided to stick with the formula of my favourite picture from the month, without reference to previous choices.

I had also wondered about whether to limit myself to images created on the camera rather than those enhanced with digital post-processing. Since getting my Nikon D40 in late December last year, I have had a much higher rate of images that I am happy to present with no further work. However, during May I found myself doing more enhancement work – in almost every case, a good picture can be made better still with a few tweaks. In the end, I picked this unaltered image but I will have to reconsider the question afresh when I look at June’s pictures.

I was pleased with how this picture came out. The composition is a little unorthodox (generally I prefer shots where the subject is “looking” towards or past the centre of the picture) but the colours are rich, the light falling in this shady corner makes the flower glow and there is a good contrast between the sharp detail of the subject and the smooth “bokeh” of the background.

Also, while I picked the photo on its merits as an image, it also happened to be an example taken using the two new additions I made to my photographic gear during the month – a Nikon E-series 50mm f/1.8 lens (inexpensive, entirely manual and wonderful) and a Raynox DCR-250 magnifying adapter (blogged about previously, although I still intend to share a proper review at some point). Photography is about more than the sum of your equipment but it is gratifying to add new tools and achieve good results with them.

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