jkurkjia wrote:
Shot taken with a 10D and 28-135 @ f/13.
Regards,
Joe Kurkjian
Joe, i don't know the name of these flowers but these are last only for 1/2 hours; so how do you manage to do it. You must be awake all night long for the shots
mttran wrote:
Joe, i don't know the name of these flowers but these are last only for 1/2 hours; so how do you manage to do it. You must be awake all night long for the shots
Yes some the cactus flowers are really cruel. I had one that I owned for several years and it never flowered. Imagine my delight when I saw a bud and watched it grow and grow. This was going to be a massive flower, at least 8" long. Imagine my horror when the flowered had opened when I was at work sometime and had already wilted when I got home. It never got a chance to flower again; my German shepherd thought I was paying too much attention to it and a few days later the cactus was cactus. She taught it a real good lesson.
Pixel Perfect wrote:
Yes some the cactus flowers are really cruel. I had one that I owned for several years and it never flowered. Imagine my delight when I saw a bud and watched it grow and grow. This was going to be a massive flower, at least 8" long. Imagine my horror when the flowered had opened when I was at work sometime and had already wilted when I got home. It never got a chance to flower again; my German shepherd thought I was paying too much attention to it and a few days later the cactus was cactus. She taught it a real good lesson. ...Show more →
Whayne, you crack me up, sorry
My dog was very smart, I had to make sure my wife was playing with her when I was tending to my pot plants or hanging out the washing, else they met with a similar fate to the cactus.
Pixel Perfect wrote:
My dog was very smart, I had to make sure my wife was playing with her when I was tending to my pot plants or hanging out the washing, else they met with a similar fate to the cactus.
mttran wrote:
Joe, i don't know the name of these flowers but these are last only for 1/2 hours; so how do you manage to do it. You must be awake all night long for the shots
The flowers in my picture are from an Argentine Giant plant, better known as Echinopsis candicans.
Almost always the bloom starts near sunset (when the plant is in the shade) and the flower remains nicely open throughout the night and well past sunrise the next morning. During the very hot days of summer, as the temperature warms up by mid morning the flower closes but opens up again a couple of hours before sunset (at this point in time it looks very raggedy, especially if it's simultaneously hot and windy.
So, bottom line, early morning after the first bloom is a very good time to get pictures. Normally I walk around scouting plants in the neighborhood that are about to bloom for my next photo opportunity.
Here is a early morning shot of a plant that just happens to be in my backyard; I didn't have to work very hard to get this shot.
Occasionally some Argentine Giant plants will first bloom about two hours before sunset; this of course is an absolutely great time to get pictures.
Here is another shot to give you an idea of how pretty the combination of fresh blooms along with buds that almost ready to bloom looks. IMO the flowers yet to bloom have a real beauty of their own.
BTW, I'm aware of a totally different different looking plant in Japan that has almost an identical bloom as the Argentine Giant (I certainly couldn't tell the difference); however, unlike the Argentine Giant it's blooms are open only at night. I have seen some beautiful flash photography shots of the Japanese plant under discussion but unfortunately the plant's name was not provided; perhaps some of our Asian forum members can step in and help us out with both a picture and an ID.
I'm not super-skilled with flowers, but here's a dandelion (if that's a "flower"?). Basically I never shoot flowers at all, but did that evening.
The yellow color is actually from the bounce I used - a yellow folder, it blew everything to that color (dialled the flash exp. comp. way way up)
I think this was an 85L with an extension tube, slapped to a 40D.
Yes, thanks for helping out, that picture #6 was pretty much what I remember seeing; it (picture #6 only) looks very much like the Argentine Giant. From your other beautiful pictures I can now see there is a big difference between the Argentine Giant plant and the Bunga Wijaya Kusuma (Epiphyllum anguliger). Back when I first became aware of your plant there was only one picture posted and no name to identify it.
Bob, that image definitely has a 3D pop to it, it's alive!
Excellent images to all, Terry these have a tasteful presentation to them, nice contrast and color balance Reds, they always seem to be a challenge, they never handle overexposure and are sensitive to WB IMO to render properly.
