I love lotuses. I am special affection for them probably because I was named after them. This past October, when I was co-hosting a workshop in Oregon to photograph, I had the good fortune to visit Hughes gardens where the lotuses and water lilies were growing in the green houses. Since they were mostly shaded and in a confined space, it was very easy to approach them do closeups. I had about 400 images to look thru. Here is a little series I have done. I did some post processing using Alienskin software. I would suggest 24-70 or a macro lens for this location and definitely have a friend with you to hold a reflector and/or a diffuser to soften the light and minimize shadows. I have used a tripod in this case, ISO 640, f9 and aperture priority mode.
