Unpopular Orchid Opinions II

[isurus79]

I made a new video about more unpopular orchid opinions:

1. Humidity trays are useless for elevating humidity

2. Using flash photography at night for orchid photos makes your flowers look terrible

3. Hydrogen peroxide from the drug store is not only useless for treating orchid roots, it is also likely damaging to the roots

https://youtu.be/orcAq0BpgGA

[Roberta]

Liked the video! Love to see misinformation debunked.

One little thing that I'd take just a bit of exception with... flash photography. At night with ordinary flash, absolutely true. But in the hands of a professional, a ring flash CAN help to deal with less-than-wonderful backgrounds, especially when orchids are photographed in-situ. Ron Parsons uses a ring flash almost all the time, and his photos are wonderful. (See many issues of Orchid Digest, or the 4-volume Compendium of Miniature Orchids for examples) I have seen him in action (and held the black cloth behind plants) quite a bit. Most of his photographs are not taken under studio conditions.

So... there is plenty of bad photography on the net using flash (like on a phone). There's some really bad photography with natural light too... blown highlights and such. There's also some really good photography using a DSLR with ring flash. Technique and understanding one's equipment are vital. (If I tried to play a violin, it wouldn't matter if it was a Stradivarius or a $50 fiddle, it would sound awful. A violinist would sound good on both but better on the Strad)

[Dimples]

Completely off topic but interesting (I think so lol). I heard the following on a podcast I listen to, but I listen to so many I can’t remember which one, about an experiment run to determine if professional musicians (the best of the best) really do prefer Stradivarius over new top quality violins, and if they could tell the difference, or if it was all a reputation bias. They went to extreme effort to control for all variables that could tip off the participants to which order they were playing the three different violins, including blacking out the room, blindfolds, and making them wear nose plugs because old-old violins have a distinct smell, and it turns out that most of the players preferred the sound of the new instrument and often misidentified the old one as one of the new ones. Moral of the story, it’s the hands using the tools, more than the perceived quality of the tools, that makes the difference!

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Roberta

Liked the video! Love to see misinformation debunked.

One little thing that I'd take just a bit of exception with... flash photography. At night with ordinary flash, absolutely true. But in the hands of a professional, a ring flash CAN help to deal with less-than-wonderful backgrounds, especially when orchids are photographed in-situ. Ron Parsons uses a ring flash almost all the time, and his photos are wonderful. (See many issues of Orchid Digest, or the 4-volume Compendium of Miniature Orchids for examples) I have seen him in action (and held the black cloth behind plants) quite a bit. Most of his photographs are not taken under studio conditions.

So... there is plenty of bad photography on the net using flash (like on a phone). There's some really bad photography with natural light too... blown highlights and such. There's also some really good photography using a DSLR with ring flash. Technique and understanding one's equipment are vital. (If I tried to play a violin, it wouldn't matter if it was a Stradivarius or a $50 fiddle, it would sound awful. A violinist would sound good on both but better on the Strad)

For sure! A mixture of sun and flash can make for amazing photos! But you want see any pros blasting their flowers with a phone flash at night! Lol

[RJSquirrel]

ah am guilty as charged and now shamed into getting a camera and leave the phone flash photo night shots out my repertoire of cool things NOT to do at midnight in my shorts on the porch

I hate to say to anyone they are right so I just agree with them. Now that doesn't make em right!!!

so much damn cheeese on the internet its become aged also.

Is there a "Tik Tok Orchid Chik" yet? just add ice..

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by RJSquirrel

ah am guilty as charged and now shamed into getting a camera and leave the phone flash photo night shots out my repertoire of cool things NOT to do at midnight in my shorts on the porch

I hate to say to anyone they are right so I just agree with them. Now that doesn't make em right!!!

so much damn cheeese on the internet its become aged also.

Is there a "Tik Tok Orchid Chik" yet? just add ice..

[Dusty Ol' Man]

Bumping this up in hopes Stephen has some new unpopular opinions to post about. Here's one: The subreddit 'Orchids' has become the absolute worst place to go for good orchid growing information. Even after real growers post about the myths being popularized there, the same old junk keeps popping up everyday.

[tmoney]

Originally Posted by Dusty Ol' Man

Bumping this up in hopes Stephen has some new unpopular opinions to post about. Here's one: The subreddit 'Orchids' has become the absolute worst place to go for good orchid growing information. Even after real growers post about the myths being popularized there, the same old junk keeps popping up everyday.

i think it would be fun if stephen explores his true inner feelings about slipper orchids! that sounds like a juicy episode and im hitting that unlike and subscribe button already! well kidisurus, whatcha got to say for yourself?!

[isurus79]

Originally Posted by Dusty Ol' Man

Bumping this up in hopes Stephen has some new unpopular opinions to post about. Here's one: The subreddit 'Orchids' has become the absolute worst place to go for good orchid growing information. Even after real growers post about the myths being popularized there, the same old junk keeps popping up everyday.

Ha! I think I'll try to catch more flies with sugar instead of vinegar

Originally Posted by tmoney

i think it would be fun if stephen explores his true inner feelings about slipper orchids! that sounds like a juicy episode and im hitting that unlike and subscribe button already! well kidisurus, whatcha got to say for yourself?!

I certainly could! Though I probably won't get too deep into my true inner feelings lol