I think when I was using my Canon, I was having better success with the reds and dark pinks. My iPhone takes good pictures for the most part, but those two colors can be frustrating, although my granddaughter seems to be able to take them with no problem! Jim, the first picture with the Canon looks great!

I use my Samsung Galaxy S3's camera and whenever the camera can't seem to detect every little detail such as the petals I mess around with the exposure. Usually lowering the exposure makes the details more clear.

Reds are the worst! Depending on the light I either use the Priority setting and stop it down a notch or two or I go full Manual mode and set both the shutter speed and f-stop. I sometimes have to take 4 or 5 pics to find one that looks decent too. What you want is a slightly dark picture. You can always brighten a shot in post op but an over exposed one is pretty much toast. I've never found any way to darken an overexposed photo so that it looks good.

The hardest ones are the really bright reds and hot pinks like Veterans' Honor and Electron. I find the really dark reds, like Black Baccara and even Oklahoma, seem to be easier to capture. Sometimes cloudy days are better than full sun too. You really have to spend time experimenting with your camera and see what works for you. It took me a couple of years and a zillion shots in the trash can before I figured out what my camera liked best.

Hah! I have been using the "auto" program on my camera for so long and not happy with the pics lately. My older camera was waaaay better even on the auto program. I had lost my user handbook and didn't know how to use the manual features. Looked online and downloaded a copy of the handbook last week. Now I know how to change the F-stops and Isos which I just could not figure out before. Wow. What a difference! I just adjust them with each photo, and OMG I'm getting better colors on my reds and other hard-to-photograph colors.

Here's a pic I took of BLACK LADY yesterday. I only cropped it to get rid of background crap and heightened the contrast a bit. Do not even have to tweak the colors at all. Why the heck didn't I figure this out sooner??

My camera is a medium-end digital Sony and doesn't have a huge range unfortunately. I used 125 iso and about 7.1 F-stop on this pic. The colors are very close to natural. My only problem with using the manual mode is I tend to shake and the pics come out out of focus often. I need to get out my tripod and start using it! It's just such a hassle tho,

Oh wow, she is beautiful. I have always left it on auto but that is not working. I did have trouble with shaking until I got and stabilizing lens and that seems to have helped that. Manual, heck I have no idea where the manual is. I guess I better download one and start fooling around with the F stops too. I have to photograph early in the morning before 8:00am or after 7:00pm in the evening to not have bright sun. Maybe I could photograph in the sun if I get a cone for the lens. The blooms are slowing down so it may be spring before I can get a lot of practice in.

I like to take pics in the bright shade... Like a somewhat cloudy day or when sun is setting, or early morning. I have trouble taking pics in sun also... Guess I need to pull my instructions out...lol

I always use the LCD screen to verify color. Why take an erroneous picture? Tilting the camera just a bit can improve the color. Angle may not be as flattering :-(

When I just can't get the true dark color I focus on a nearby bloom, thereby putting the desired bloom in the corner of the frame. And it's accurate! Out of focus but accurate. I haven't had much luck with holding the shutter down 1/2way to capture the exposure, then moving the camera to the wanted bloom and depressing the shutter the last 1/2.

Beth (norcal), your last red shots have been amazing!