You are soooo right! That's a favorite trick of photogs is to get in close and observe the detail many folks miss. I could show you my favorite of a Poinsettia blossom (not the bract) but I don't want to hi-jack the thread. Great job of explaining this.
Nice work Todd - Love the Paph. Ron Williamson close up. You must tell us about how you captured such great photos....lens, setting etc.
Soon you will have some great Paph. photos to share with us all.
btw, what is that suspicious looking spot on the leaf of your Ron Williamson pic - just left of the bud and close to the midline of the leaf. Out of focus it looks like scale?
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DaveW
"Every time you spend money, you're casting a vote for the kind of world you want." ~Anna Lappe
You don't miss a trick Dave....it was a scale! Mind you, a dead scale now! I do have some scale in my ppahs and phals but they are down to acceptable numbers now...who knows, I might even be able to get rid of them for good....yeah right!
I have an idiot camera.....a Nikon 8800. It has a close-up feature that works like a charm! I can get within 2 inches of the subject! With 8 megapixels, the images are very fine. I have a black board that is placed behind the plant and I use just natural sunlight in all my pics. If the camera selects a shutter speed less than 1/60, I use a tripod....some of my pics are taken at 1/2 sec since it is rarely bright sun in Newfoundland, at least in winter. If really sunny, then I can hand-hold at 1/120 or 1/250 sec. During the summer, I take all the pics outdoors. I'll post a bunch of my backlit pics later.
I love this stage of paphs! The amazing develoment that unfolds to one of natures finest. When my paphs are at this stage I usually move them right in front of me on my desk so I don't miss a moment.
Beautiful!!! We are used to appreciate open flowers but the buds certanly have their own beauty. It's a good idea to take a picture of them and I will do the same whenever mine will be in bud.