Virginia bluebells
May 6, 2020 21:54:57 #
Virginia bluebells, Mertensia virginica, is common further south but it is a rare plant in Michigan. The nearest wild stand is about 150 miles from us, and since we are not traveling this year we are not going to get there to see them blooming. But I did get some going here last year, although I didn't get them in the ground. They browned off early and I suspected I had killed them, then a couple of weeks ago I saw sprouts in the pots. Eureka! They survived the winter. With a late frost in the forecast, I brought them inside and they took off and then bloomed profusely. Such handsome plants.
Native to eastern North America, from Boraginaceae (the Borage Family). They are mostly pollinated by butterflies rather than bees because of the structure of the blossoms.
Virginia bluebells on Flickr
Virginia bluebells on Flickr
Mike
Native to eastern North America, from Boraginaceae (the Borage Family). They are mostly pollinated by butterflies rather than bees because of the structure of the blossoms.
Virginia bluebells on FlickrVirginia bluebells on FlickrMike
May 6, 2020 21:56:09 #
May 6, 2020 22:10:36 #
Curmudgeon wrote:
Very nice Mike, I always wondered what Bluebells were
Thanks. There are a few different plants called "bluebells." Bluebells in the UK are a different species, and then there are the Campanula genus - the bellflowers - which are also called bluebells.
Virginia bluebells are related to comfrey, forget-me-not, fiddleneck, puccoon, waterleaf, etc. in the Borage family.
Mike
May 6, 2020 22:11:52 #
Blenheim Orange wrote:
Thanks. There are a few different plants called "bluebells." Bluebells in the UK are a different species, and then there are the Campanula genus - the bellflowers - which are also called bluebells.
Virginia bluebells are related to comfrey, forget-me-not, fiddleneck, puccoon, waterleaf, etc. in the Borage family.
Mike
Virginia bluebells are related to comfrey, forget-me-not, fiddleneck, puccoon, waterleaf, etc. in the Borage family.
Mike
Thanks
Jack
May 7, 2020 05:26:17 #
May 7, 2020 07:32:00 #
Gorgeous work, as always Mike. And thanks for the cool tidbit about butterflies vs. bee pollination. Fun to know!
May 7, 2020 07:34:25 #
May 7, 2020 08:00:57 #
May 7, 2020 09:09:10 #
May 7, 2020 09:15:46 #
May 7, 2020 14:01:36 #
Thanks for looking and posting comments Jack (J-SPEIGHT), Jack (Curmudgeon), Linda, nimbushopper, John Matthew, Carol, and Jim.
Mike
Mike
May 7, 2020 16:57:09 #
May 7, 2020 17:35:07 #
I received a couple of requests by private message for the technical details on these shots. I am posting that information here for those who are interested.
Equipment: Canon EOS 5D II camera; Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens; Helicon FB tube.
Settings: ISO 100; shutter speed 1/150th sec.; aperture f/16
Lighting: Late afternoon sunlight through a one stop diffuser; LED light above the subject; LED panel as a fill light from the left. I use 8X12 while plastic sheets to bounce a little light from below the subject.
I used live view, a cable release and a tripod to minimize vibrations. With the camera set to burst mode, 40 focus-bracketed raw files were written to the card, with the focus ring changes controlled by the Helicon FB tube.
The raw files were interpreted and then 16 bit TIFF format images were exported. I happened to use Luminar 4 for that on these. Since we are doing non-destructive editing, the raw file remains unchanged so this step is not that critical, as it can always be done again or even done with a different program as far as that goes. All I did in Luminar was remove chromatic aberrations and defringe, and open up the shadows a little bit.
The TIFF files were loaded into Zerene stacker, and I used both the PMax and DMap methods. After the stacks were complete, I used the touch up tools in Zerene to clean up the image and then exported the result as 16 bit TIFFs.
I used the old Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7 (circa 2003 I think) to to make a copy and do some more clean up of edges and resize and export as a high quality JPEG.
I use the guidelines developed by UHH member CHG_CANON for that last step - Recommended resizing parameters for digital images.
UHH members David Bozsik, Nikonian72 (Douglass) have been a big help with this - Field Photography for Post Process Focus-Stacking.
Image stacking article at David's excellent photography blog.
Time needed for the entire process: about 3 months.
Just kidding. Actually an hour or so, half of that spent drinking coffee while the computer processed things.
I hope that is useful. Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions.
Mike
Equipment: Canon EOS 5D II camera; Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro lens; Helicon FB tube.
Settings: ISO 100; shutter speed 1/150th sec.; aperture f/16
Lighting: Late afternoon sunlight through a one stop diffuser; LED light above the subject; LED panel as a fill light from the left. I use 8X12 while plastic sheets to bounce a little light from below the subject.
I used live view, a cable release and a tripod to minimize vibrations. With the camera set to burst mode, 40 focus-bracketed raw files were written to the card, with the focus ring changes controlled by the Helicon FB tube.
The raw files were interpreted and then 16 bit TIFF format images were exported. I happened to use Luminar 4 for that on these. Since we are doing non-destructive editing, the raw file remains unchanged so this step is not that critical, as it can always be done again or even done with a different program as far as that goes. All I did in Luminar was remove chromatic aberrations and defringe, and open up the shadows a little bit.
The TIFF files were loaded into Zerene stacker, and I used both the PMax and DMap methods. After the stacks were complete, I used the touch up tools in Zerene to clean up the image and then exported the result as 16 bit TIFFs.
I used the old Jasc Paint Shop Pro 7 (circa 2003 I think) to to make a copy and do some more clean up of edges and resize and export as a high quality JPEG.
I use the guidelines developed by UHH member CHG_CANON for that last step - Recommended resizing parameters for digital images.
UHH members David Bozsik, Nikonian72 (Douglass) have been a big help with this - Field Photography for Post Process Focus-Stacking.
Image stacking article at David's excellent photography blog.
Time needed for the entire process: about 3 months.
Just kidding. Actually an hour or so, half of that spent drinking coffee while the computer processed things.
I hope that is useful. Feel free to ask questions or make suggestions.
Mike
May 7, 2020 17:35:55 #
May 7, 2020 19:57:50 #
Blenheim Orange wrote:
Virginia bluebells, i Mertensia virginica /i , is... (show quote)
Mike, I'm so glad these lived and bloomed for you! What a special reward, and what beautiful images...as yours always are!
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