Red and yellow, or the last dahlia

This dahlia barely squeaked in under the weather. We had hoped it would bloom enough to tell what colour it was, so it could be labelled for next year. I don't think any bees found it though. They were all tucked away in their hives when these were taken late September. We're amazed it did this well.

We only had a few of these yellow and red ones, which is a pity. They are so cheerful and happy looking, and the bees love them in particular, given a chance. I think it's supposed to be yellow and orange, maybe the red came along from the tough growing conditions.

My buddy Sean mentioned the difficulties of yellow the other day. He suggested a little less exposure and a little more contrast on the pansy. I tried that. It makes a slight difference to the yellow, but neither captures the cheerful yellow particularly well. The adjustments make a difference to the dark centre that I don't like quite as much. The photo shows tiny white spots that are invisible to the naked eye, and dark appeared almost black with solid edges. The photo shows it shading from black to yellow, if you look carefully.

Pparticular shades of yellow and red are difficult. I've talked about the red peony being difficult. It's a very dark rich red, almost a Burgundy, and the camera and software want to turn it purple or something well on the way to it. Some of the dahlia yellows don't come out as nice as I'd like. I'm not sure if that's lighting or what. Maybe next year on a calm day I'll set up the camera on a tripod and try a bunch of different settings, just to see if I can see a difference.

Linda is busy today rinsing the dirt off the dahlia bulbs she wants to over-winter. I should go take some photos of the bulbs. Gotta go...