A couple of weeks ago, I photographed another “lifer” wildflower … the Adam & Eve Orchid, aka Putty Root (Aplectrum hyemale). One of my photo students had alerted me that she had found some growing at the wonderful Burr Oak Woods Conservation Area, so we made a trip over to photograph them. We found a dozen or so of these interesting plants, some budding and others blooming. Here are a few of my favorite images:
After grabbing lots of images, I captured a series of images for a focus-stacked image. While editing the images at home, I combined 17 images to create this focus-stacked image:
Researching these orchids, they are quite amazing. One to two leaves emerge on this plant in September, lying dormant over the entire winter. By the time the blooms appear on the plant, the leaves have withered away. The plant grows to ~12 inches tall (we found some that appeared to be closer to 18″ or so), while the leaves grow to ~8 inches long. Guess I’ll need to put the Adam and Eve Orchid leaves on my list to capture this next year!
Photographic Equipment Used:
- Canon 5D Mark 3 body
- Canon EF 180mm, f/3.5 macro lens
- Bogen 3221 tripod, with ballhead
- ISO 640
- Aperture f/3.5 to f/16
- Shutter 1/20 sec. to 1/250 sec.
- Focus-stacked image was made by combining 17 images (using HeliconFocus software), shot at ISO 250, f/3.5, 1/320 sec.