FlytrapCare Carnivorous Plant Forums

Hi all-- One of my really showy orchids is in bloom right now, yellow with velvety purple lip. It has a wonderful fragrance, unlike most orchids that have almost none at all. Anyway, as I was taking the photo, there was an interloper, at lower left. (You may have to magnify the photo (click the icon at upper left of the photo) to see it clearly.

The orchid is blc. Miya's Glow x blc. Helen Pastushin (blc. is an abbreviation of brassolaeliocattleya and refers to an intergeneric hybrid that includes brassavola, laelia and cattleya)

I love it!

That's a really nice-looking orchid Steve, but the cameo by the bee makes it art.

Do you know offhand of a good place where I can read up on proper orchid care, what they need, etc? I'm definitely getting one or more at some point.

Veronis wrote:Do you know offhand of a good place where I can read up on proper orchid care, what they need, etc? I'm definitely getting one or more at some point.

There are quite a few good orchid discussion forums on the Internet and many thousands of enthusiasts. The forum I tend to visit most often is http://www.orchidboard.com/

There are also forums dedicated to one or just several types of orchids, like the "slipper" orchids, Paphiopedilum, Phragmipedium, Cypripedium and Selenipedium. My favorite types of orchids so far are the Cattleya/laelia alliance, the Paphiopedilum alliance, Phalaenopsis (which are putting up flower stalks right now and are therefore available in many stores) and Tolumnias.

Plants can get the best of us.
Steve

Gorgeous flowers Steve and nice job catching the bee in flight!

Matt wrote:Gorgeous flowers Steve and nice job catching the bee in flight!

haha i was bout to say them nice bee and amazing orchids!

Great photo!

Wow, just amazing Steve!

hb

Thanks everyone for your comments. For those who like photograpy, here are a few notes about the photo--

My camera is an Olympus E-3 digital SLR, and I was using a 50mm macro lens (which also works great for all kinds of other purposes).

The photo was taken in the brightest midday light, but the sky was completely overcast with a high and thin cloud layer that wonderfully diffused the light, eliminating harsh glare that I would have had to compensate for by using a polarizer or underexposing. This diffused light also helped to illuminate the shadier parts of the blossoms, so fill flash (flash used in daylight) was not needed.

Because of the very bright light and a large aperture (f/2.0) I was able to get a good exposure despite an extremely high shutter speed, 1/3200 second, three times as fast as is necessary to "freeze" splashing water. This high shutter speed is what froze the bee's wings in mid stroke.

I had seen the bee buzzing around the blossoms, but I had no idea whether I would be able to capture it in a photo or not. As luck would have it, the bee not only appeared in a good position for the overall composition of the photo, but just happened to enter the shallow focal plane exactly as the photo was snapped. This kind of luck can only make one smile.

Steve_D wrote:Thanks everyone for your comments. For those who like photograpy, here are a few notes about the photo--

My camera is an Olympus E-3 digital SLR, and I was using a 50mm macro lens (which also works great for all kinds of other purposes).

The photo was taken in the brightest midday light, but the sky was completely overcast with a high and thin cloud layer that wonderfully diffused the light, eliminating harsh glare that I would have had to compensate for by using a polarizer or underexposing. This diffused light also helped to illuminate the shadier parts of the blossoms. Flash was not used.

Because of the very bright light and a large aperture (f/2.0) I was able to get a good exposure despite a very high shutter speed, 1/3200 second, three times as fast as is necessary to "freeze" splashing water. This high shutter speed is what froze the bee's wings in mid stroke.

I had seen the bee buzzing around the blossoms, but I had no idea whether I would be able to capture it in a photo or not. As luck would have it, the bee not only appeared in a good position for the overall composition of the photo, but just happened to enter the shallow focal plane exactly as the photo was snapped. This kind of serendipity can only make one smile.

wow thanks Steve! nice camera, i have a cheap one that makes everything blurry with the slightest move but i have got some really nice looking pics.

Thanks for all of the background information on how you got such an amazing photo Steve. I've never used a shutter speed that quick for anything. After reading your post, it has reignited my interest in photography again. It's pretty amazing all of the things that have to come together to get a nice photo like the one you took. Well done!

Wow, gorgeous flowers!

I love photography. I have a Olympus E-500 with a couple of zoom lenses. I really want the 50mm f2.0 Macro, but I don't have $450 to drop on a camera lens right now! One thing about photography is luck, you hit this one just right. I will say that 90% of the time I shoot using Aperture priority and I usually using the lowest (numerically) f-stop I can get with the lens. Of course, some of this is going to depend on what you're trying to capture.

Dionaea: Try getting a medium priced tripod (cheap tripods are terrible in my experience). I rarely shoot any photos without a tripod unless I'm hiking somewhere (in which case I'll often carry a backpacking tripod). As long as the shot isn't from some crazy angle that you can't get with the tripod attached, or you're trying to photograph moving objects, it add just that little bit of extra clarity to make great looking photos.

Beautiful flower, the bee makes it a master shot. I like orchids, but I never grew them. I like watching and photographing them in their natural habitat:)

95slvrZ28 wrote:I have a Olympus E-500 with a couple of zoom lenses. I really want the 50mm f2.0 Macro, but I don't have $450 to drop on a camera lens right now!..

Another Olympus user! Seems like everyone uses Nikon or Canon. I love the Olympus cameras I've had, including an E-330 and E-520 (which I gave to my brother and his son). I love the 50mm macro lens; it is a wonderful, sharp, bright lens. I let my brother have the original 14-54 lens (itself an amazingly good lens) because I was using my 50mm lens for almost everything.

Anyway, thank you for the compliment about the flower shot. It was a lucky shot and I'm happy with it. Looking forward to seeing some of your photos here at the FlytrapCare Forum.

Best wishes,
Steve

Incredible shot! That is one lovely orchid

fantastic shot! you even got a small bee in flight!! very very beautiful plant, I'd like to get an orchid again some day.... maybe next time I see one at the grocery store. they have common ones there all the time.