Prairie Milkweed (Asclepias sullivantii) at Rock Cut State Park - Loves Park, Illinois

This is my favorite photo of milkweed that I took this year. I’ve got a number of compliments on it, so others must like it as well.

The sun was backlighting the milkweed pods creating harsh shadows and obscuring the details I wanted to bring out. I used a small 12-inch gold reflector to fill in the shadows, warming the photo and bringing out the earth tones even more.