Jean Wu
March 2025 - Orchid Cactus Epiphyllum
Original
About the Image(s)
An interesting plant. The cladodes (or phylloclades) are pretty unattractive but the flowers are gorgeous and last approximately 4 days. T
his was taken in late afternoon with iPhone 14 Pro. I used PS and Nik Viveza preset to adjust color and tonality. No AI.
11 comments posted
It is a very nice backlit flower that seems to glow. It would help if the filaments and anthers could be brightened without it looking like they somehow were in direct sunlight. Posted: 03/03/2025 20:00:00
Thanks for your comment. Here is modified version. Posted: 03/07/2025 17:21:01
Jean, what a beautiful flower1. I think you made a good decision to darken your background and darken in between the petals.
As Robert indicated, it looks like you photographed in bright light. Flowers look best when photographed in shade. They look great to our eye in the sun, but somehow, they photograph best in complete shade and soft light.
I just watched the 2-day KelbyOne iPhone Conference and one of the tips was to photograph in RAW (top of screen when photographing on your iPhone). This gives you even more information when using PS and NIK. You may have already known this, but thought I'd mention it for everyone else.
I'm interested in how you set this up. Handheld? Macro? Or used RAW with a large f/stop number to get more details? Thanks!
Posted: 03/05/2025 20:19:32
As Robert indicated, it looks like you photographed in bright light. Flowers look best when photographed in shade. They look great to our eye in the sun, but somehow, they photograph best in complete shade and soft light.
I just watched the 2-day KelbyOne iPhone Conference and one of the tips was to photograph in RAW (top of screen when photographing on your iPhone). This gives you even more information when using PS and NIK. You may have already known this, but thought I'd mention it for everyone else.
I'm interested in how you set this up. Handheld? Macro? Or used RAW with a large f/stop number to get more details? Thanks!
Posted: 03/05/2025 20:19:32
I had 'backlit' in mind that's why this was shot against the bright light.
I used iPhone Macro mode, handheld f/2.2 with RAW format. However, it is tricky to export Apple photo RAW format as it will exported as 'heic', 'DNG', or 'JPEG' file format depending on your setting in Camera and Photo app on your iPhone. Photoshop 2025 RAW new feature does not support 'heic' format and 'JPEG' format file. "DNG" is RAW but a smaller size file form the original. While using RAW format on iPhone, you need to keep in mind the space of your phone and your iCloud storage (you can turn if off if you don't want to upload big file to iCloud). RAW files will used up your storage quickly. Posted: 03/07/2025 15:02:01
I used iPhone Macro mode, handheld f/2.2 with RAW format. However, it is tricky to export Apple photo RAW format as it will exported as 'heic', 'DNG', or 'JPEG' file format depending on your setting in Camera and Photo app on your iPhone. Photoshop 2025 RAW new feature does not support 'heic' format and 'JPEG' format file. "DNG" is RAW but a smaller size file form the original. While using RAW format on iPhone, you need to keep in mind the space of your phone and your iCloud storage (you can turn if off if you don't want to upload big file to iCloud). RAW files will used up your storage quickly. Posted: 03/07/2025 15:02:01
We grow orchid cactus also, one we have had over 25 years now. Ours is brilliant scarlet red. Does anyone want a cutting?
Anyway I love your photo, I love the color! I have no suggestions except to say they tend to be more impressive looking when shot at night.
Here I have attached a photo of ours. Posted: 03/06/2025 14:44:05
Anyway I love your photo, I love the color! I have no suggestions except to say they tend to be more impressive looking when shot at night.
Here I have attached a photo of ours. Posted: 03/06/2025 14:44:05
Thanks for your comment and good suggestion, I'll try to take the shot at night next time I got the flower bloom again :-) Posted: 03/07/2025 17:26:10
So gorgeous! Love those night pix! Posted: 03/21/2025 18:40:32
Nice and colorful, very well processed, liked it. Posted: 03/10/2025 22:11:58
Thanks!
Posted: 03/12/2025 14:05:18
Posted: 03/12/2025 14:05:18
Very nice and beautiful photo, I never use iPhone to take Raw photo, my is 13 Pro. thanks for your sharing. Posted: 03/13/2025 03:37:01
Pei-Fan, you do have RAW on iphone 13 Pro. It makes a HUGE difference when you process it in Lightroom or Photoshop. So much more detail and pixels to edit. I use it for any "important" photos. Posted: 03/21/2025 18:40:10