18-200 lens wide open at 50 mm with a Canon 300 D close up lens. The tulips were separated by about 8 inches front left to back and I wanted the depth of field shallow to focus attention on the left front tulip and blur the right side in order to use the other two for context (not distracting competition). Black backdrop with the black point set in Capture NX2 to really make the reds pop (the reds were not altered). Used the D300's Live View to get the focus precise on the flower's center. Natural light, tripod, cable release, mirror up. Used -1.33 exposure compensation to fight against the meter's attempt to make this heavily black tone weighted scene gray.