Murphy Hektner, APSA
September 2023 - Orchids
About the Image(s)
Nikon D850 with 80-200 zoom @ 185mm on tripod - ISO 250 - 1/10 sec. @ f/10 - Aperture Priority at minus 0.7 - Post processed in Elements 2020 - single picture.
MAKER’S AIMS AND COMMENTS: Our local grocery store has a large floral department, I always check out their flowers looking for something with an artistic composition. I can take home and perhaps photograph. This Orchid was photographed on our back deck with evergreen trees in the distance, so well out of focus. Cloudy day lighting so the trees are dark green with makes a great background.
13 comments posted
(Group 60)
Lovely composition, Murphy. Well done. Posted: 09/01/2023 08:44:50
Hi Barbara: Thank you, had fun setting up this Orchid shot. Posted: 09/01/2023 10:07:34
Mo Devlin
Very nice. Lovely lighting. Background blends nicely. Orchids are one of my all time favorite flowers. So much variety in color and shape. I got sucked in to buying Monkey Face Orchids online. Ended up being seeds. You don't plant orchid seeds like other flowers. My research showed some intricate set of steps. So I drawers the seeds. On a side note, they make bad frozen flower photos.
Sorry for ramble. I'm a talker. Posted: 09/05/2023 17:56:35
Sorry for ramble. I'm a talker. Posted: 09/05/2023 17:56:35
Hi Mo: Pleased you liked the Orchid picture.
Orchids are a great house plant, they will bloom much longer than most other house plants if maintained correctly. I would not have the necessary patience to grow Orchids from seed, much easier just to buy them at the flower shop. Posted: 09/05/2023 21:43:46
Orchids are a great house plant, they will bloom much longer than most other house plants if maintained correctly. I would not have the necessary patience to grow Orchids from seed, much easier just to buy them at the flower shop. Posted: 09/05/2023 21:43:46
Mo Devlin
Very nice. Lovely lighting. Background blends nicely. Orchids are one of my all time favorite flowers. So much variety in color and shape. I got sucked in to buying Monkey Face Orchids online. Ended up being seeds. You don't plant orchid seeds like other flowers. My research showed some intricate set of steps. So I drawers the seeds. On a side note, they make bad frozen flower photos.
Sorry for ramble. I'm a talker. Posted: 09/06/2023 09:02:18
Sorry for ramble. I'm a talker. Posted: 09/06/2023 09:02:18
Very nice composition colors and exposure. To my eye the front of the arrangement might be a tad soft and some selective sharpening might help.
My only critique is the bloom on the right side and it's orientation. Except for the bloom right above it all of the other blooms are oriented either at or 180 degrees from the plane of focus. This one bloom is perpendicular and to me detracts from a very nice arrangement. Posted: 09/06/2023 13:31:59
My only critique is the bloom on the right side and it's orientation. Except for the bloom right above it all of the other blooms are oriented either at or 180 degrees from the plane of focus. This one bloom is perpendicular and to me detracts from a very nice arrangement. Posted: 09/06/2023 13:31:59
Hi Dan: A good idea to clone out the perpendicular flower, then the flowers would all be facing the same way.
I used f/10 aperture which was kind of borderline for complete sharpness on the orchid grouping. I tried f/16 and had good sharpness on the orchid group, however with the added depth of field the background became very blotchy. Sometimes it can be "pick your poison".
A better solution could have been focus stacking, I could have used a wider aperture and controlled the background better.
Posted: 09/07/2023 12:24:43
I used f/10 aperture which was kind of borderline for complete sharpness on the orchid grouping. I tried f/16 and had good sharpness on the orchid group, however with the added depth of field the background became very blotchy. Sometimes it can be "pick your poison".
A better solution could have been focus stacking, I could have used a wider aperture and controlled the background better.
Posted: 09/07/2023 12:24:43
Murphy, I am another person that like orchids but admit I have yet to be happy with any photo of an orchid I have taken. I like the composition and the background works really well. Like Dan, my eye keeps going back to that perpendicular bloom so I wonder what the overall image would look like with it cloned out. And I agree that the front of the arrangement looks a little soft but I am not sure why. Good photo. Ray Posted: 09/06/2023 20:48:32
Hi Ray: Thanks for your helpful comments and ideas, very much appreciated. Posted: 09/07/2023 12:28:05
Nice photo. The flower is sharp and the background blur. The colours form a good contrast. The 'perpendicular' flower could have been removed in PS. Posted: 09/09/2023 11:52:52
Lovely beautifully colored orchids nice composition very sharp Be careful growing orchids A friend started with one and then couldn't stop For me one orchid just became nice leaves so I didn't get addicted Posted: 09/09/2023 20:56:06
I like the picture and the composition (line of the flower).
I have no problem with the perpendicular one. Indeed we see flowers of the front, other of the rear. Why no profile?
Maybe a little crop of the left. Posted: 09/17/2023 12:15:57
I have no problem with the perpendicular one. Indeed we see flowers of the front, other of the rear. Why no profile?
Maybe a little crop of the left. Posted: 09/17/2023 12:15:57
Hi Vincent: Regarding composition; I could crop from the left just a slight amount, would not crop too much or the flower grouping would become "dead centered" in the frame which I do not prefer. I prefer to have a flower grouping such as this biased a little to the right in the frame. Posted: 09/19/2023 01:43:08