Now that's funny, Peter! Your shot is MUCH better than mine, as you used a nice proper shallow DOF, whereas I just snapped mine with an ultrawide lens - but on my last trip to Disney World I also spotted a bird of paradise nicely opened up and decided to take a snap. Mine's at Coronado Springs: Yours is definitely nicer as mine has far too much background and not OOF enough due to the 10-18mm lens I was shooting with...but these flowers are like the ugly duckling/swan of the flower world...when closed they look like weeds, and they die quickly making an ugly mess on the ground, but for that one moment when they open up, they're beautiful!
Yes, but your choice to capture this with the lens available gives you something mine doesn't--a setting. Y'all think I took mine at the Disneyland Hotel, but I could have taken it in my backyard, right? It was taken at the Disneyland Hotel, which has these beauties all over the place in the middle courtyard/pool area. You're right about the mess these things make when they loose their flowers. I remember walking back to our room and thinking, "where did all the mess come from? Don't they clean up the grounds daily?". Then I saw a group that displayed all the stages of flower growth in one place...CLICK, CLICK, CLICK.
Some sunset shots from around the Coronado Springs grounds as I waited for my dinner reservation time:
Took the bus from MK to Saratoga Springs to go over to Downtown Disney the last day I was there for Pixelmania Saratoga Springs by jbwolffiv, on Flickr
