When it's lost it's flowers you can cut the flower stem 1cm above the second or third node(one of them may already be swelling), and the plant will put out a new flower stem.
My oldest one has been doing this for 5years now, and none of the rest have failed me yet!
I hope yours comes back and gives you as many years of pleasure as mine has for me.
I think these are excellent shots. I prefer the BW. As you are planning, I'd eliminate the support stick. In the BW I think you can clone out or significantly darken the petal at top center. You could probably clone out the support stick as well. I'd clean up the first, and tout it around on the BW and Macro forums.
Scott
It's winter time and it's a bit cold outside for me to make some new photos, so I start to play a bit with my orchid picture in Photoshop. This is the result.
I prefer both the color & sepia versions - interesting how the toning presents an entirely different mood than the color...I think each would serve well in an appropriate setting.
OOC, I'd like to see an alternative with the toning backed-off a notch or two for comparative purposes.
