Dahlias are my favorite flower. They grow in many different varieties, each one is exquisite. Dahlias are native to Mexico and Central America and were not known by Europeans until the Spanish conquest of Mexico. Dahlias are not frost hardy and must be protected from frost in colder environs.

Photographing Dahlias can be challenging because the depth of the flowers makes it hard to get sharp focus from front to back. Focus stacking can help if you have control of the environment so that the flower does not move as you are photographing the stack. I prefer to photograph isolated blooms so that I can separate the flower from the background. Sometimes I add a color cast to the natural background while in other cases I replace the background with a texture or gradient.