Showy Lady's Slipper

Gallery: FloraPosted June 18, 2012148 views10 comments

I've been in a photography slump lately, so I gave myself an assignment to get a good ID shot of a great-looking flower I have never seen in person: the showy lady's slipper. Lots going on at home, so time (as well as some physical problems) prevent me from hunting down one of the rare and remote populations in New York, so I headed to Vermont. There is a well-know population there that is a VERY easy hike, I took the two-hour drive to Eshqua Bog Natural Area this morning. I really lucked out with the timing, as there were lots of fairly fresh ones still in bloom.

With too much breeze for stacking, and strict rules about stepping off trail in this Nature Conservancy area, I could not set up a protective tent. Instead, I looked for flowers with lots of space behind them, and stopped down. The best ones were back-lit, which I love, but the flat light on the shady side did not do much to show off the shape of the pouch, so I used a reflector to light it. In addition, I did something I never tried before -- "spritzing" with distilled water. I like the result, even if it's not 100% authentic.

Canon 5DII
Sigma 150 Macro; Circ. Polarizer
1/160 sec. @ f/16; ISO 640
Tripod; 2-sec. timer

Comments

10 comments

Comment posted by David Schwaegler on June 18, 2012 at 11:12 PM

Love it. The reflector did its job. The hint of ferns in the background frames the flower perfectly. I think you should be very pleased with the results of "your assignment."

Registered on December 4, 2003, 232 Posts, 1652 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Yeoh on June 19, 2012 at 12:38 AM

Wayne:
Superb shot! The specimen couldn't be fresher and the back lit makes the petals and cilia stand out. Also like the leaf shadow on the petal. Good call on fill light as well. Love the dew drops (no-one will ever know

). Like the inclusion of the habitat. The only very minor suggestion for improvement is perhaps tame the reflection on the fern below the pouch.

Registered on September 1, 2009, 588 Posts, 8184 Comments

Comment posted by May Haga on June 19, 2012 at 9:45 AM

Beautiful flower beautifully captured.
May

Registered on February 22, 2007, 714 Posts, 8470 Comments

Comment posted by Barb Pflaum on June 19, 2012 at 2:16 PM

Beautiful flower and nice bg. The water drops are a nice touch. Nicely done.

Registered on January 14, 2009, 316 Posts, 2724 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on June 19, 2012 at 3:03 PM

Wayne, a nice bit of technical work. The "spritzing" is fine as long as you are open about it; it does add to the image. As long as you were about it, I think, considering the tripod/2 second lapse, you might have tried a few exposures at a wider opening, say about f/8. The object of course would be to get a shallower DOF and a better blur in the BG. Of course, with a little Photo-shopping you could do this in post processing as well.

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Wayne Jones on June 19, 2012 at 3:16 PM

Thanks everyone.
GARY: Good idea to cut down on those bright BG highlights. I'll do some more post-processing on this one.
PHIL: I also shot at f/8 and f/11, but they did not make the cut on a flower this big and this close with a full-frame camera. Also, just as a matter of personal preference, I like a somewhat identifiable natural background instead of something that looks like studio photography.

Registered on April 18, 2007, 953 Posts, 6435 Comments

Comment posted by Howard Cheek on June 19, 2012 at 4:32 PM

Thanx for posting the large view, looks very nice!
Techs look outstanding, I especially like the light here

PS - Hope you feel better soon Wayne.

Registered on July 24, 2008, 1201 Posts, 10758 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Seaver on June 19, 2012 at 5:39 PM

Beautiful result, your client should be delighted.

The orchid stands out so nicely from the background and the water drops help make that happen. This is delightful as presented.

Registered on January 23, 2011, 1103 Posts, 17270 Comments

Comment posted by Ramamohan Pai on June 19, 2012 at 9:23 PM

Wayne - Amazing what good light can do. It has brought forward the tiniest of details in the bloom. The "spritzing" worked wonders here, as you already know.

Fantastic frame in my book. You might want to give some thought to darkening the brightest portions of the fern in left of center bottom.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 550 Posts, 9037 Comments

Comment posted by Miro Susta on June 20, 2012 at 5:30 AM

Wayne, this is a fabulous image with awesome delicate colors, a fine DOF choice (allong to see all the great details) and an magnificent composition with perfectly blured BG.

Registered on August 18, 2006, 719 Posts, 3736 Comments