Sharing My Photography Techniques in a New Course

Over the years, many have asked how I take my photographs, from equipment I use to techniques I use for taking the photos and processing them.  I have recently partnered with the website Orchids Made Easy at www.orchidsmadeeasy.com to create an on-line photography master course sharing many of my techniques and tips.  While no one class can be a substitute for hard work and practice, the methods I share can help you hone your skills in the right direction.

In this course, I cover techniques for photographing cultivated orchids in the studio and wild orchids in situ, from lighting to composing the shot to editing the digital photos in a digital editing application (I cover both Photoshop and GIMP).  There are many instructional videos used throughout the course, along with detailed, illustrated examples.  Here is the course outline:

Introduction
   1: About the Author
   2: Purpose
Lesson 1: Equipment Overview
   1: Introduction
   2: Camera
   3: Lens
   4: Tripod or Camera Stabilization
Lesson 2: Sources of Light
   1: Natural Light
   2: Flash
   3: Constant Light Source
Lesson 3: Photography 101 - Lighting
   1: Three-point Lighting
   2: Key Light
   3: Fill Light
   4: Back Light
   5: Soft vs. Hard Light
Lesson 4: ISO & Exposure
   1: Adjusting Parameters
Lesson 5: Aperture
   1: Aperture Overview: From A-Z
Lesson 6:Composing the Shot
   1: Subject
   2: Backdrop
Lesson 7: Taking the Photos
   1: Getting Started
   2: Bracketing the Exposure
   3: Varying the Lighting Angle
   4: Varying the Camera Position
   5: Focus on the Flowers
   6: Putting it All Together
Lesson 8: Making Your Photos Sing
   1: Why It Matters
   2: Take Your Best Shot
   3: Editing Software Tools
   4: Adjusting Sharpness & Brightness
   5: Adjusting Color
   6: Removing Blemishes
   7: How To Video Lessons
   8: Before & After Comparisons
Lesson 9: Publishing and Printing Photos
   1: Sharing
   2: Printing
Addendum: Shooting Plants in Situ
   1: Finding Wild Orchids
   2: Best Environmental Conditions
   3: Composition
   4: Video Lesson
Conclusion
   1: Parting Thoughts

Through this partnership, Orchids Made Easy is offering my Photography Master Course for $47 US with a money back guarantee if you're not satisfied.  You can sign up for this course at the following link:

Photography Course Sign-up Link

Proceeds from this course go to help fund the Florida Native Orchids website, field trips, photography equipment and the like.  As always, thank you for your support.

A Newly Discovered Population of Calopogon multiflorus

Breaking news! 05/07/14

A New County Was Added to the List of Known Florida Counties for the Rare Florida Native Orchid, Calopogon multiflorus.



Prem Subrahmanyam, curator of the Florida Native Orchid website, Facebook page, and blog, was exploring an area of the Apalachicola National Forest on Sunday, May 4, 2014 near Tallahassee, Florida (Leon County). In a recently prescribed burned area, he found a small population (8 individual plants) of the rare orchid species, Calopogon multiflorus, commonly known as the Many-flowered Grass Pink. This species was recently upgraded from endangered to threatened with the latest guidance released by the Florida Dept. of Agriculture and Consumer Services. Appropriate officials have been contacted to let them know about this newly discovered population.  The previously closest known population to this location was 30 miles away in Liberty County, Florida.

The gallery page for this species on the Florida Native Orchid page has been updated with a new photograph taken of a member of this population, along with an updated map. Those can be viewed at the following link:

http://www.flnativeorchids.com/natives_gallery/calopogon_multiflorus.htm

This brings to four the number of species that Prem Subrahmanyam has been the first to discover growing in Leon County, Florida. Previous first discoveries were Platanthera flava, Platanthera ciliaris, and Zeuxine strateumatica.

A Fitting 100th Blog Post - Platanthera ciliaris in bloom.

I had the privilege of revisiting a site where one of Florida's most beautiful orchids grows - The Yellow Fringed/Orange Fringed Orchid (Platanthera ciliaris).  These are some of the nicest photos I've gotten of one of these on a partly cloudy morning in Central Florida.

You can read more about this species by following this link:

http://www.flnativeorchids.com/natives_gallery/platanthera_ciliaris.htm

The newest photos are at the bottom of the page, but I will post them here as well.  Click on the images to zoom in on them.

 

 

 

Enjoy!

---Prem 

 

A Rarely Seen Florida Beauty - the Downy Rattlesnake Plantain

Years ago, when Carl Luer published his masterwork, The Native Orchids of Florida, the Downy Rattlesnake Plantain (Goodyera pubescens) had been hinted at as growing in Florida, but had not been officially recorded.  It was listed in a section in his book of orchids that might one day be found growing wild in Florida.

Fast forward to 1983 where a pair of naturalists discovered a population on one of the many hills near the Apalachicola River.  As is seen elsewhere in north Florida, riverine systems are a means of many northern species making tentative forays into north Florida.  The climate is often just a bit cooler, giving plants a place to establish tenuous outlying colonies.

I have not yet had the privilege of seeing the Florida population, but I had encountered a population of these orchids while photographing Pink Ladyslippers near the Atlanta, Georgia area.  I hope one day to see the Floridian plants, if the colony still exists.  A lot can happen in 30 years.

The plants consist of a basal rosette of beautifully patterned leaves -- deep blue-green with silvery veins.  The hairy flower stem emerges in spring to bloom in mid-late summer with small, roundish flowers with green-striped sepals and deeply pouched lips.

Here are some photos of this species:

And here is the profile page on the Florida Native Orchids site:

http://www.flnativeorchids.com/natives_gallery/goodyera_pubescens.htm 

Snowfall in the Deep South, in Summertime!!

In general, the Snowy Orchid (Platanthera nivea) is a rarely seen summer-blooming orchid, earning a spot on the threatened plant list in Florida.  It is one of the few terrestrial bog/wetland orchids that bridges the gap between the spring bloomers and the late summer/fall bloomers.

Occasionally, however, it can become locally abundant, and when it does so, it can create spectacular displays in wet meadows and on wet roadsides.  I have seen two areas, one in the Florida panhandle and one in southeastern Georgia where this occurs, and the display is breathtaking!

Here is an individual flower head:

And here is a video taken in the same general area as the first picture in this post:

The flowers are nicely fragrant of citrus blossoms and hold small amounts of nectar in the tips of their spurs to reward their pollinators (likely small butterflies).

 

Feature on OrchidsMadeEasy.com

I was recently interviewed for a guest feature on the Orchids Made Easy blog.  You can read the article here:

http://www.orchidsmadeeasy.com/florida-native-orchids/

Thank you to Ryan and Jenny for the honor of inclusion on your blog!

 

33rd Annual Florida Native Plant Society Conference

I will be speaking at the 33rd annual Florida Native Plant Society Conference on Friday afternoon and exhibiting (i.e. selling stuff - photos, t-shirts, greeting cards, etc.) on Friday and Saturday.  Please stop by and say "hi"!

http://www.fnps.org/conference

Pink Ladyslipper or Scratch Another Thing Off the Bucket List

This entry's orchid is one not native to Florida, but native to the greater United States.

Growing up in Florida, I have appreciated how we are home to a wealth of orchid species found nowhere else in the country.  That does not mean, however, that other states in the Union don't have equally as lovely (and sometimes even lovelier) orchids that grow only outside our state boundaries.  One such orchid is one that I have wanted to see in person for decades as I have salivated over photographs of it in flower...Cypripedium acaule or the Pink Ladyslipper, also known as the Moccasin Flower.

This species is still relatively common throughout a large swathe of the eastern US and Canada, being found typically in pine forests where the pine needle litter tends to keep the soil quite acidic.  Without this acid soil, this plant will quite often succumb within a few years, while plants in the their native environs will last for decades.  These orchids, therefore, do not make good garden plants and are best left to be enjoyed in the wild.

With the help of some on-line orchid colleagues, I was able finally to observe this species in situ in a park to the southwest of Atlanta, Georgia. They were everything I hoped they would be and more.  The flowers themselves ranged in size from having pouches about 1.5 inches long to close to 3 inches long.  I am guessing the larger flowers belonged to older, more robust plants, while the smaller flowers must have belonged to plants just a few years old. One surprising characteristic was their sweet scent, reminding me of the scent of citrus blossoms.

In this, however, these flowers can be deceiving.  They offer no nectar or pollen as a reward to their pollinators.  Instead, pollinating insects end up entering the pouch-shaped lip through what is essentially a one-way valve.  The only escape is to climb a ladder of upward-pointing hairs going up the backside of the flower.  This path leads out underneath the waiting pollen masses and/or stigmatic surface of the column. The hapless insects who escape this trap end up dispersing pollen to other nearby flowers.  Not all insects do escape, leading to small collections of dead insect corpses in the bottom of the pouch of some flowers.

It was certainly the thrill of a lifetime to stand on that remote hillside beneath the pines and observe hundreds of plants in various stages of bud.  Only a few flowers were open, but that was enough for me to take some really pleasing photographs, if I do say so myself

In any case, here are some of the photos from that day (click each image to see a larger display):