Cypripedium yatabeanum

From the 3 new uploads, this was my first attraction in the thumbnail, opening it I loved it from the first sight.... The softness, its placement on the frame, I love the natural look of the angle, the pocket,the different direction of the semi circled leaves on L and R. the monochromatic tone with a bit of white light, the shallow DOF. Simply a beauty of nature creation, seen , photographed and uploaded by you.will look at the others later.;-))

Thanks for the kind words, you always have been the number one fan of my orchids :-)

 

This is a continuation of my experiments with shooting macros with narrow DoF as well as with obscuring the subject somewhat by getting down low and letting the foreground blur get between the lens and the subject thus blurring and softening it to some degree. In this photo the foreground blur and background blur melded into one at the point where the flower sits, or at least that was my intention.

All feedback gratefully appreciated.

i think you got what you intended. it seems the air around the orchid is somehow solid and foreground and background are one

Thanks your assessment is most helpful.

If Jim Henson were still around, he'd base a muppet on this flower.

Simple and really artistic.

This is Beauty, Gordon. well done. 7/7 anon. Best regards.

Jack;

 

It's not easy being green :-)

 

Vandana;

 

Thanks I appreciate the comment. I was try to make this both of the thing you found it to be and it is alway nice to know if it worked.

 

Linh;

 

Thanks for the kind words and the rating. Best regards to you.

This looks like quite a character, almost animated. I love the open mouth. And that wonderful Gordon blur in the back. A great capture.

Thanks. These ladies slipper orchids do have a lot of personality. I am always intrigued by their structural quality. They come across to me more as sculptures than flowers.

Simply beautiful!

Gordon, the actual flower is absolutely exquisite, I find these images very elegant in there simplicity. My guess is you are shooting these in there natural habitat which makes it much more difficult than picking your subject and placing to please. Look forward to the next.All the best......roger

Anabela;

 

Thanks for the kind words

 

A S ;

 

Thanks to you as well

 

Roger;

 

You are correct that these plants are, for the most part, photographed in situ which often involves long drives, followed by slogging through the bush, wading into swamps and feeding lots of flies and mosquitoes. Sometimes only to find out that you should have been there last week and all the blooms are gone.

 

My indoor orchids, which I shoot in the winter, are all in pots, so I am afforded many more luxuries with them. With the native species I pretty much get down on the ground and crawl around looking for the best lighting and angle. Getting down is straightforward , getting back up is becoming more of a challenge with time :-) The interesting thing for me has been that this necessity has born quite a bit of fruit as regards improving and broadening my technique. Necessity being the mother of invention.

 

Thanks for dropping by.

 

 

very good!

Subtle, simple and great image. I like very much the out-of-focus rendering. Regards

just great.

Absolutely perfect. I feel like I'm getting an illicit peak at a private splendour. The diffusion of green in the foreground is what gives it that voyeuristic quality.

 

 

I'm green with envy!

I was so enamored with your blood-sucker "Please Do Not Feed The Animals" that I failed to notice this image the first time around. Now that I see it, I have to tell you that I think you did excellent work with it. The only reason I did not rate it 7/7 is because I felt that you used too narrow of an aperture with it. I would like to see more clarity in the body of the orchid.

No matter the genre, whenever a photograph or a part of one jumps off the page at me, I take notice. That seems to happen here. It's almost as if I'm experiencing two worlds where the sharper, brighter areas are breaking free of the dense green atmosphere. I am fascinated and mesmerized by the way the green stem gets bathed in that foreground/background nether world. As lovely as the flower is, the stem and top leaf, to me, add so much sensuality to the composition by juxtaposing a linear (although curved) quality with the more focused central flower. There is much implied movement in the background, almost as if the flower itself is falling (or rising) through space. I can feel you in a world of your own here, and I think that's special.

Love it ! Regards.

Soft and Beautiful. Pleasing to my eyes. Have a wonderful weekend.

Beautifully done Gordon !!!

Yung;

 

Thanks for the comment and for continuing to follow my orchid photos. I am always jealous of your Paph. collection.

 

Joaquim;

 

Thanks the focus is what I was most happy with.

 

Ali;

 

Thank you.

 

Ian;

 

Glad to see you back from your road trip. I have dropped by to marvel at your IR images on several occasions I will have to find the time to articulate something more meaningful than wow but for now WOW!

 

Since we have mostly kept track of each others directions in photography since crossing paths, you will recognize this as a further development of what I was working on last fall with the Aminitas. Voyeuristic is a wonderful way of describing what I am trying to achieve. I really do feel a sense of being privileged, to catch a glimpse into a secret world, when I have these beauties in front of my lens.

 

Shawn;

 

Thanks for the feedback. I agree with your comment regarding clarity and I too would have liked to see just a bit more sharpness and a tiny bit broader DoF. The problem one faces when using the foreground to obfuscate the subject is that any increase in DoF brought on by increasing the f. stop, also brings the foreground into focus. What you gain on one hand you loose on the other hand. I continue to try balancing these issues and will hopefully continue to hone my technique. Moving toward or away from the subject with the camera may have left me with a better result.... the quest continues. I bracketed the f. stop and camera distance considerably and this was the best of the lot. I had several sharper images or images with more DoF but this one had the closest look to what I was trying to achieve.

 

 

Fred;

 

So nice to hear your impressions and know that what I set out to achieve registered with you. I too like the angle and appearance of the stem. the curves and the back light give it a sensual feel for me also.

 

Halina;

 

Thanks for the kind comment. Being a fan of your floral compositions your opinion is well respected.

 

Cynthia;

 

Pleasing to the eye was my aim, thanks for the conformation.

 

Andrea;

 

Thank you for the kind words.

 

 

 

ROFLOL!!! <--"rolling on the floor laughing out loud"

You need to consider publishing children's books - you have a gift!!!