NATURESCAPES.NET FLORA AND MACRO GALLERY IMAGE OF THE YEAR

Lily Close-Up
Image copyright Laura Stiefel

Laura's interest in nature photography began in the winter of 2001. While birding at the local Ottawa County National Wildlife Refuge in Northwest Ohio, she developed a deep appreciation for the amazing diversity of avian subjects. She longed to capture this diversity and review details of these subjects after her time in the field.

She began photographing using a digital point-and-shoot camera along with an 80mm spotting scope. While this combination gave her the advantage of focal length, Laura quickly began to realize the limitations of this digiscoping set-up when faced with difficult lighting conditions and flitting song birds. As luck would have it, her Uncle Doug was interested in both birding and photography. In the spring of 2002, he kindly sold her a Canon SLR camera and a range of lenses to help her along her way.

Since 2002, she has spent a great deal of her free time reviewing educational nature photography sites such as NatureScapes.Net and applying the techniques she's learned at these sites while in the field. Laura continues to be inspired daily by the wealth of talent and knowledge here at NatureScapes.Net.

This lily close-up image was made at the Toledo Botanical Garden in May 2003. The freedom of the digital medium has encouraged Laura to experiment and look more closely at the world around her.

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