Crazy Tuesday

 Another Flickr group that I participate in is called "Crazy Tuesday."  It is a moderated theme-based group, where the subject matter changes from week to week according to a chosen theme.   This week's theme for instance is "stamps."  

Yesterday, I worked on a sheet of Ukrainian wildflower stamps from the year 2000.  Here's what I finally came up with:

I was pretty happy with this, but then I thought that it seemed silly to have just a picture of stamps.  I could have easily just done it with a scanner.  It needed a little something else.   Today, I worked on reshooting these stamps to include some flower in the margin.  Just something to emphasize that the stamps weren't merely scanned.

At first, I used my go-to lens:  a Canon RF100mm F2.8 L MACRO IS USM lens mounted on a tripod.  Even with Adobe Lightroom, however, my image was a little skewed.  I reshot once more, this time using a Canon RF24mm F1.8 MACRO IS STM lens.  The wide angle gave me a lot of extra room around the subject, so that any distortion was away from the center of my subject.

I was careful to place the flowers in such a way that any shadow they cast would be towards the lower-right.  My natural light source was coming from the top.  Exposure was .3 seconds at f/8 and 200 ISO.  This was actually created from three bracketed shots and processed as an HDR -- High Dynamic Range -- which captures a much wider range of light and shadow.

Somehow, I suspect that I may encounter some resistance from the group moderator, as she had said this:

Your photo must unambigoulsy show the THEME OBJECT which FILLS THE FRAME (without a big negative space) and the THEME must be RECOGNIZABLE (without having to say in the description “it is this or that”. As our group’s name is CRAZY TUESDAY – some craziness is very welcome but WITHIN the implemented group rules/requirements. Sometimes that is more or less possible – depending on the theme.

I've run afoul of group rules before that has resulted in my picture being removed.  I'm going to state my case in the photo description, arguing that I didn't want to post something that looks like a scanned image.  We shall see.

About this stamp sheet

The "Flowers of Ukraine" (also known as Plant World Flowers) stamps, issued in October 2000, are a beloved series of 10 miniature stamps designed by artist Kateryna Shtanko. This iconic wildflower souvenir sheet placed 3rd in the seventh World Cup of the stamp held by Timropresse.

Slipper Time

 This past weekend I took a drive to Coopers Rock state forest in search of the elusive Pink Lady's Slipper orchid.  In previous years, I had found the orchids just below the handicap parking sign of off the large parking lot.  I was disappointed that there wasn't a single one.

I drove on to the head of the trail that leads down to the Henry Clay iron furnace.  It was here that I had hoped to catch the Rattlesnake Plantain orchid in flower.  Go figure, I didn't see a single one this time of the year.   What I did see, however, was a lovely stand of Pink Lady's Slippers.   I had a field day with my camera there.

I seem to have captured them at their peak.

Another plant that I recognized is the Halberd-leaved Violet (Viola hastata):

I also took this shot of a pair of mushroom growing out of some moss:

 

A New Old Lens

 I while back, I managed to score a Canon EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens on ShopGoodwill.com. As always, a Goodwill auction purchase is "as is."  Turned out that both automatic and manual focus on the lens would not go below four meters.  There has apparently been a long-standing problem of this sort with that lens.  It has a part with a design flaw that makes it very easy to damage. A repair company was able to replace the flawed part with a redesigned one that isn't as easy to damage.  It wasn't a cheap repair, but it's not a cheap lens, either.  Of course, the lens also got a thorough cleaning as part of the repair.

Although I already own a couple of 50mm f/1.4 lenses, they are both vintage, manual focus lenses.  Perhaps because of that, I hadn't been as attuned to their superior light gathering properties. Since this new one is made to work on a Canon digital SLR, I can more easily appreciate the superior optics.  Foremost is that the lens can work really well in low light and natural situations.

Another great feature of the 50 is the focal range.  It's great for portraiture because it give a nice blur to the background.

Here's one of the best shots I've taken with this newly repaired lens:

This is a great spangled fritillary butterfly on an iron weed. I shot it with the lens wide open at f/1.4, where it is said to be "soft."  Note the dreamy background, which is the woods behind the flower.  If I want sharper pictures, I'll need to stop it down to at least f/2.0.

Despite this newer, easy-to-use lens, I'm going to find it difficult to part with my Konica 50mm manual lens. I'd love to compare the image quality side-by-side with these two lenses.  Perhaps another day.

Downy Rattlesnake Plantain

On Friday before Labor Day and again on Labor Day, I took a hike down the trail to the Henry Clay iron furnace at Coopers Rock.

These days, it's pretty rare for me to come across a new plant.   And this one is doubly notable, because it's also an orchid.   Meet the Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens):

This shot composed of two different shots that were combined in PhotoShop is not very good, but I wanted to be able to show the entire plant.

Most of my shots showing the leaves were blurry.  I need to stop farting around and use my tripod!  This is the best of the lot:

I wanted to show the leaves because of their reticulated pattern.  Oddly, when I tried to find the origin of the orchid's name, the emphasis is on their resemblance to the plantain.

Sadly, I missed catching this orchid in bloom.  Here's the inflorescence as I found it:

I was surprised to read that Goodyera pubescens is considered to be the most common orchids native to eastern North America.  How is it that I've only now stumbled across it?

More from the "new" old lens

Back on March 29, I raved about the Konica Hexanon AR 50mm f/1.4 lens that I won on a ShopGoodwill.com auction. 

I've been using this lens a lot more than I thought I would, getting better at snapping pictures by manually adjusting the ISO, aperture and film speed.

Here's a little gallery of some of my favorite shots:

As you can see, this lens has been performing quite well with close-ups, rendering some pleasing bokeh.

My next challenge is to get better at shooting this lens wide open at f/1.4.

Pink Ladyslippers

I was looking forward to this time of year (mid-May) because it's when Pink Lady's Slippers orchids (Cypripedium acaule) first make their appearance in our forests.

According to their Wikipedia article, they are widespread in Canada and the eastern third of the United States.  Even so, I'd never encountered one until moving to West Virginia.

The following shots were all taken last weekend at Cooper's Rock state forest.  All were taken with a Canon 77D and a vintage Canon FD 50mm f/3.5 Macro lens.  In other words, manual settings and manual focusing.

Lady's slippers usually appear in colonies.  They are said to prefer pine forests, but I have only seen them in deciduous woods. Lady's slippers have a symbiotic association with a particular fungus.  It was thought that the fungus was necessary to provide the plant with nutrients, but recent research indicates that the fungus is only necessary for seed germination.

What is in a name?

My lunchtime activity consisted of a quick walk down part of the rail trail near my workplace.  I wanted to try out the photostacking portion of my digital camera's Magic Lantern software.
I was using a monopod, but there was no breeze today, so I got a nice sequence of eight shots of a Toadflax (Linaria vulgaris).

The focus stacking worked out pretty well, as you can see in the above composite shot.

This pretty little relative of the snapdragon is an invasive species in North America.  It's quite successful around here, because it thrives in disturbed land.  And West Virginia is a pretty disturbed land.

The flowers are largely closed off by the underlip of the plant, so it takes a strong insect like a determined bee or a bumblebee to pry its way into it.

Because of its widespread range and its long history as an herbal, the Linaria vulgaris has a long list of aliases:

• brideweed
• bridewort
• butter and eggs
• butter haycocks
• bread and butter 
• bunny haycocks (ok, what are haycocks?)
• bunny mouths 
• calf's snout 
• Continental weed
• dead men's bones 
• devil's flax 
• devil's flower 
• doggies 
• dragon bushes 
• eggs and bacon  
• eggs and butter 
• false flax 
• flaxweed 
• fluellen 
• gallweed 
• gallwort
• impudent lawyer (is that a great name, or what?)
• Jacob's ladder
• lion's mouth 
• monkey flower  
• North American ramsted
• rabbit flower 
• rancid 
• ransted 
• snapdragon 
• wild flax 
• wild snapdragon 
• wild tobacco
• yellow rod
• yellow toadflax

Haycock, I just learned, is the name of a small conical haystack, usually only three or four feet in diameter and six or so feet high.

Now, don't tell me that you didn't learn something today.

If you want to surf the web some more, by all means check out Haycocks N^o.09.

Trillium signs the likes of which even god has not seen

I had seen this stand of white trilliums (Trillium grandiflorum) from along the highway for a couple of years now.  Yesterday, I decided to brave the traffic and hauled my camera and tripod out to capture these.

Granted, the landscape leaves a lot to be desired, but I tried to convey the sheer number of these flowers.  Here's a more up-close shot:

According to one web site, Trilliums spread very slowly by underground root stocks, and the seed produced creates new plants even more slowly. From a planted seed, it takes approximately five to nine years for a Trillium grandiflorum plant to bloom. So when you see a massive drift of these in spring, you know you're looking at a bunch of plants that are at least a decade old, probably much older.

Obviously, this stand has been lumbered (at the least), but it's nice to see that such a large growth of Trilliums have escaped the bulldozer.

Cheap Frills

The bloodroot (Sanguinaria canadensis) is said to be quite variable in flower and leaf.  I shot this one in the Arboretum last Saturday, where it is shown displaying its frill in a threatening manner.

Although this type of behavior is typical of certain animals, it's not at all common in the plant kingdom.

The juice of the bloodroot is red and poisonous, but at least it doesn't spit.  The other plants nearby nonetheless felt threatened.

Spring in the Arboretum

Took a stroll down the rail trail to the bottom of the WVU Arboretum last Saturday.  The highly variable weather we've been having has had a strange effect on the wildflowers there.  I went for the Bluebells, but they weren't anything like what they've been in previous years.

Here's a panorama shot, facing up hill.

What was impressive was the volume of plants like Trout Lily and Wakerobin.

I learned something new about the Wakerobin.  There are a couple of closely related species of it.  I've always thought that this is the red trillium or wakerobin (Trillium erectum), but now I've leaned that this might also be a furrowed wakerobin (Trillium sulcatum), which is more southern and also grows in this state (W.Va.). Although quite similar, you can tell them apart by the smell: Trillium erectum smells like rotten meat and Trillium sulcatum smells faintly musty, like fresh fungus. Sorry to say, but I did not think to smell this.

Happy Fascination of Plants Day

Fascination of Plants Day is today!

And I have so little prepared in the way of remarks on this solemn day.

Let me introduce you to Jack-in-the-Pulpit then. Jack-in-the-Pulpit (Arisaema triphyllum) is a native to eastern North American woodlands.

The bloom consists of a green and reddish-brown striped hood, which conceals a spadix.

It's probably hard to see it in this picture, but there's a tiny little crank down on the right-hand side of the base of the hood.   When you turn the crank for several revolutions, out pops "Jack," or the spadix.

Later in the summer, the spadix turns into a cluster of bright red berries, which often get eaten by birds and mammals.

Quaker Ladies - Nothing is better for thee

One of my favorite spring flowers to photograph is the Bluet flower (Hustonia caerulea).

Another name for them is Quaker ladies, apparently so named because the shape of the flower is similar to the white bonnets once worn by women of the Quaker faith.   I tried googling for an image of such a hat, and I think that's quite a stretch.  A better explanation is that they're named for the shade of fabric used in making dresses worn by Quaker ladies.

Here is a macro of an individual flower, which is a pretty little thing:

Fleur du Jour

Meet the Asiatic dayflower (Commelina communis), which gets its name because the blooms last only one day. It is classified as a noxious weed in North America, but it is used as a medicinal herb in China, its native habitat. 

According to Chinese folk medicine, it has febrifugal, antipyretic, anti-inflammatory, and diuretic effects. It is also used for treating sore throats and tonsillitis.

In Japan the flowers were used to produce a pigment in many world-renowned woodcuts from the 18th and early 19th centuries.

My Pictures Stink

Earlier this year, I bought the book Your Photos Stink!: David Busch's Lessons in Elevating Your Photography from Awful to Awesome.  Sorry to say that I haven't gone all the way through this book, but I learned enough to be dangerous.

Here's a lesson that I applied:

This picture is of a Fuller's Teasel (Dipsacus fullonum) that I shot near Wally World.  Granted, it's nothing special, but to me it has a certain je ne sais quoi.  I even tried to go artsy-fartsy with it and render it in black & white.  It was then that I noted the "stink" factor:  the ant on the top-right of teasel is distracting.  I mean, it's a nice ant and all, but she wasn't meant to be the subject of my picture.  She had to go.

Here is the artsy-fartsy black & white teasel but without the ant:

You probably think I'm talking about putting lipstick on a pig, if you want to call my teasel a pig. Truth be told, I'm thinking that the color shot is more aesthetically pleasing.  But you have to admit that the shot is much better without the little photo bomber.

Using PhotoShop Stack Mode to minimize high ISO graininess

Meet the Butterflyweed (Asclepias tuberosa), a species of milkweed native to eastern North America.  This seems to be a particularly good year for them.  I see prominent patches of their orange blooms off the side of the road as I drive around lately.

I took a series of focus-stack shots in the evening yesterday and ended up using 19 of them to make this picture.  Lately, I've been using the Auto ISO setting on my camera, so because of the time of day and the f/16 stop I was using, the Auto ISO ended up going all the way to 3200.

The first step in my process is to align all of the shots to each other.  Although I was using a tripod, a slight breeze was causing noticeable movement.  It wasn't so bad that the alignment process couldn't deal with it.

A bigger problem arose when I tried to do the Auto-blend step in PhotoShop to create the focus stack.  I had a very pesky photo bomber waltzing through my picture.  That's her, below, dancing from flower to flower.

Normally, like in the case of a fly, I'll just eliminate the shots that have the photo bomber.  In this case, however, the bomber was in quite a few of them.

I decided to invoke a technique that I have rarely used.  After I restacked the images, I used the PhotoShop command Layer --> Smart Objects --> Stack Mode --> Median, which analyzed the picture and removed anything that wasn't in all of the shots, i.e., the ant.

Try as I might, however, I couldn't find a way to Auto-blend the layers without bringing back the photo bomber.  As luck would have it, though, the f/16 aperture I had used already gave me a fairly decent depth of field.  While researching the other Stack Mode commands in the hope of finding something that would help me, I discovered that the Mean command was particularly good for removing graininess from high-ISO stacked images.  And it did it quite well.

If you look closely at the image with the photo bomber and compare it to the first image, you'll see the reduction in graininess that I'm talking about.  

Swamp thing

Meet the Swamp smartweed (Polygonum hydropiperoides) growing in a hollow stump at Valley Falls park:

Evergreen

Meet Gaultheria procumbens,  a native to northeastern North America.  Its common name is eastern teaberry or American wintergreen.

 

 

Knock-kneed goats and bow-legged sheep

Meet the White Snakeroot (Ageratina altissima), which is native to eastern North America. Snakeroot contains the toxin tremetol.

According to Wikipedia, when cattle eat the plant "the meat and milk become contaminated with the toxin. When milk or meat containing the toxin is consumed, the poison is passed on to humans. If consumed in large enough quantities, it can cause tremetol poisoning (milk sickness) in humans." During the early 19th century, large numbers of European immigrants were killed by milk sickness.

The plants are also poisonous to horses, goats, and sheep. Signs of poisoning in these animals include depression and lethargy, placement of hind feet close together (horses, goats, cattle) or held far apart (sheep), nasal discharge, excessive salivation, arched body posture, and rapid or difficult breathing.

So, if you're a farmer,watch out for knock-kneed goats and bow-legged sheep.  It could be a sign.

Silver-bordered fritillary

A silver-bordered fritillary (Boloria selene), I think:

Superbum

It's pleasing to come across a new wildflower.  Meet the Turk's cap lily (Lilium superbum), found growing beside Decker's Creek near Masontown, WV.   It is native to the eastern and central regions of North America.