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Tropical Milkweed Flowers
Jan 11, 2021 23:20:29   #
robertjerl Loc: Corona, California
 
Flowers both open and unopened of the "tropical milkweed" are currently part of nature in my backyard.

I had a couple of pots with these two years ago. Seeds blew and are now in several other pots with other plants, two spots growing from between concrete slabs where a little dirt is showing and in my flower beds. One came up under a fairly large rose bush and the stalks went straight up so you look at the rose bush (sadly in need of trimming back to start new growth) and here and there sticking out of the leaves and roses are little clumps of milkweed flowers.

This is actually a two frame focus stack. I almost always take two or three frames of flowers, esp when a breeze is moving them around. The two frames both had the unopened red blooms in the middle in focus but one had the cluster on the right sharp, the other had the cluster on the left sharp. Just to see what happened I sent them from LR to PS as layers. Then I did a layer alignment and a focus blend plus crop. This is the result.

5DIV, 100 f/2.8 Macro, 1/200 @ f/8, ISO-400
hand held, center AF point, spot meter, with a Macro Ring Flash.

Yes, I needed a third frame for the front flower on the right.
Yes, I needed a third frame for the front flower o...
(Download)

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Jan 11, 2021 23:55:07   #
Dixiegirl Loc: Alabama gulf coast
 
Certainly makes me wish for summer, Jerry. Beautiful work!

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Jan 12, 2021 00:24:14   #
robertjerl Loc: Corona, California
 
Dixiegirl wrote:
Certainly makes me wish for summer, Jerry. Beautiful work!


Thanks a lot.
Our So Cal climate fools the poor plants and they don't know what time of year it is. So some species can bloom at any time of year.
The single plant I am most allergic to by the clinic tests I did - Chinese Elm tree - pollinates for about 30 days a year in the part of China it comes from. Here in So Cal it pollenates 9-10 months of the year and many street departments plant lots of them along streets and roads because they grow fast, don't get too big and produce dense deep shade. Lucky me!!!

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Jan 12, 2021 08:11:05   #
jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana
 
Nice photographing, and interesting: I’ve never seen a milkweed like that.

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Jan 12, 2021 09:30:04   #
Cwilson341 Loc: Central Florida
 
Excellent, Robert! I’ve photographed these many time and never seems to get them all in good focus. That was a great approach!

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Jan 12, 2021 10:34:44   #
CLF Loc: Raleigh, NC
 
robertjerl wrote:
Flowers both open and unopened of the "tropical milkweed" are currently part of nature in my backyard.

I had a couple of pots with these two years ago. Seeds blew and are now in several other pots with other plants, two spots growing from between concrete slabs where a little dirt is showing and in my flower beds. One came up under a fairly large rose bush and the stalks went straight up so you look at the rose bush (sadly in need of trimming back to start new growth) and here and there sticking out of the leaves and roses are little clumps of milkweed flowers.

This is actually a two frame focus stack. I almost always take two or three frames of flowers, esp when a breeze is moving them around. The two frames both had the unopened red blooms in the middle in focus but one had the cluster on the right sharp, the other had the cluster on the left sharp. Just to see what happened I sent them from LR to PS as layers. Then I did a layer alignment and a focus blend plus crop. This is the result.

5DIV, 100 f/2.8 Macro, 1/200 @ f/8, ISO-400
hand held, center AF point, spot meter, with a Macro Ring Flash.
Flowers both open and unopened of the "tropic... (show quote)


Robert, I love it and keep it up.

Greg

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Jan 12, 2021 17:23:40   #
robertjerl Loc: Corona, California
 
jaymatt wrote:
Nice photographing, and interesting: I’ve never seen a milkweed like that.


Thanks, "Tropical Milkweed" native to areas from the US/Mexican border down to Central America but a lot of garden centers and nursery operations sell them for landscaping because they will grow almost anywhere and are easy to care for. Now you can find them in many places.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asclepias_curassavica

Some butterfly groups say NO! but others say yes if done right - trim down to the ground periodically, esp in the fall so 1. the butterflies migrate 2. the spores that develop on older plants and are harmful to the caterpillars and butterflies are eliminated.

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Jan 12, 2021 17:30:34   #
robertjerl Loc: Corona, California
 
Cwilson341 wrote:
Excellent, Robert! I’ve photographed these many time and never seems to get them all in good focus. That was a great approach!


Thanks. Good luck, give focus stacking a chance. I use center point focus, one shot auto focus or manual, focus on different parts and then move the center point back to one marker before finishing the shutter release. Then process the stack in software. The advantage over in camera stacking (for cameras that have it) is I then have RAW files and the PP apps stacking functions are more powerful than in the little camera processor. Also I can pick frames to use.

I do have a Helicon FB Tube that will do the focus and stacking automatically with the right camera and lens combo but when I decide on a spur of the moment stack I don't bother getting it out.

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Jan 12, 2021 17:30:54   #
robertjerl Loc: Corona, California
 
CLF wrote:
Robert, I love it and keep it up.

Greg


thanks very much

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