In Bloom

I always look forward to seeing the flowers on my Magnolia tree start to appear because it makes me think that the warmer weather is not too far away. Since it is still bitterly cold in Belfast I was quite surprised to find that some of the Magnolia buds are open already but it was a great opportunity to get a few pics as they look so soft and delicate and they last for such a short time. I used my supermacro setting and got in so close I was almost touching them. I tried to get the further away petals to look a bit blurry to emphasise the softness and I think it worked out OK.