Red amaryllis and paperwhites

[Marie Hass]

Frank, Grahame, Christina and others.

Today is very dull and drear. With no real natural light, I did have to resort to lighting. So - a whole new ball game.

Grahame, you suggested that I give smaller apertures a go. Here is f13, but in order to achieve that, I had to use my external flash, Joe Demb diffuser, painter's clamp light (to backlight a bit) and porch light (general illumination). So now I have WB issues to adjust for, as well. I set my WB to Kelvin (color temp). I bounced my flash off of the ceiling. This evening will probably be the last of shooting this flower unless it puts up a new scape. I will not get home early tomorrow. If you have any ideas, I can try them out in the next hour, but that is about it. Processed with Nik filters.



Marie

[FrankMi]

Frank, tell your wife that there is an Amaryllist Cybister "Chico" for sale on ebay.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1-RARE-Amary...item43c50230f8

You could buy it for her in advance of Valentines Day? Then you will have a captive subject for winter shots. LOL's.

Marie

Thank you for the great suggestion Marie. I will definitely look into it as she loves Amaryllis but has never see this variety before I showed her you lovely images!

Edit: It's on order. Thank you so much! One of the nicest Valentines Day gifts for my wife that I wouldn't have thought of on my own. <big hug!>

[Stagecoach]

Marie,

I think you have done a good job again and to me the stamen and anthers are more pronounced here. It is of course a matter of personal taste but do you feel the greater DoF has helped with this image.

As for the lighting it does not shout 'flash' at you and I see no harsh shadows. White balance can be altered in post to what you want, it's really no big deal unless of course you are producing as I call them 'seed catalogue images'

A great job, well done.

Grahame

[Brownbear]

Hi Marie,

Perfection! I wouldn't know that flash had been used... Thank you for sharing your beautiful flowers. I've learned a lot from this thread.

[Marie Hass]

Hi, gang.

Christina, I absolutely hate using flash on flowers, but it does have it's place. To me, the objective of using a flash is to render its use undetectable - and that is what I tried to do. Shooting Kelvin as white balance also seems to help provide more natural color. I much prefer natural light. Also, I am not done shooting my amaryllis yet. I have two - well, three more left to go. Red Pearl is next within the next 3 - 4 days for the first scape. It has 2 more scapes coming up, but they will be about 2 weeks. Ruby Star will be about a week. I also have Snow White, a white double. Snow White is still a "baby" and will be about a month or so until it is established. It does have a bloom scape coming, but it will be a while. Thanks Christina for suggesting high key. Now you've got me doing some research in that direction.

Frank, when you said your wife has amaryllis, I expect to see some? Ask her if she knows the varieties? If she needs help getting her new baby established, let me know PM and I will provide what assistance I can. Thus far, I have been 100% successful in getting my bulbs to rebloom. They are much easier than expected. Also thank you Frank for encouraging me to try a black background. I would not have done it without your encouragement.

Grahame, I do really like the smaller aperture image. F13 provided a much nicer DoF. Thanks for giving me a gentle "push" into it. I have 3 more Amaryllis left to bloom, so will get in more practice and better days.

I will post Red Pearl in the next 3 - 4 days. Ruby Star will be next after that, then in about 3 - 4 weeks will be my last - Snow White.

For any of you interested, here is the link to a pictoral library and commentary about different varieties of amaryllis. Frank, your wife will enjoy this site.

http://www.emaryllis.com/

It has been a good reference for me.

Marie

[Brownbear]

Thank you for sharing Marie... Very helpful. It sounds like you have named all your flowers but perhaps those are just the proper names. I'm very much looking forward to seeing others to come.

[FrankMi]

Frank, when you said your wife has amaryllis, I expect to see some? Ask her if she knows the varieties? If she needs help getting her new baby established, let me know PM and I will provide what assistance I can. Thus far, I have been 100% successful in getting my bulbs to rebloom. They are much easier than expected. Also thank you Frank for encouraging me to try a black background. I would not have done it without your encouragement.

For any of you interested, here is the link to a pictoral library and commentary about different varieties of amaryllis. Frank, your wife will enjoy this site.

http://www.emaryllis.com/

She has maybe 8-10 Amaryllis, some in the dried bulb stage and most in the leaf stage. I see that one is just starting new leaves so I expect that it will be the first of the group to blossom. I'll get shots when it does.

[Marie Hass]

Christina, those are actually their given names. LOLS.

http://www.emaryllis.com/wp-content/..._snowwhite.jpg

If I were to name them, they would probably end up being one of the 7 dwarves or one of the 8 reindeer (of course, the red one would absolutely have to be named Rudolf.....)

Marie

[Marie Hass]

Ahhhhh....be still my heart. I only have 6....well....now 7. My last one for the season, "Snow White", just arrived yesterday.

Frank, I will be excited to see some of your wife's blooms.

Marie

[Marie Hass]

Red Pearl is blooming now.

This is not the best shot. i had difficulties establishing a black background. There is more cleanup to do than I thought.



The color is beautiful. No orange. Just red.

Marie

[Brownbear]

Hi Marie,

Yes, you captured the red colour beautifully. I adore this image especially for the view point, composition, detail captured and the gorgeous colour. One of my favourites of your images.

Red Pearl is blooming now.

This is not the best shot. i had difficulties establishing a black background. There is more cleanup to do than I thought.



The color is beautiful. No orange. Just red.

Marie

[FrankMi]

You really need to open the Red Pearl to get the full impact of this marvelous image! Great capture Marie.

BTW, the Chico arrived today so it will be 3-4 weeks before we'll have blossoms. Can't wait!

[Marie Hass]

Dear Christina,

Thank you so much and I am so happy that you enjoy the images. I fuss over my amaryllis and find some sort of balance in their care. I have been fortunate that, here in my new home, we have plenty of window light and they have appreciate that - they have been very busy growing.

Frank and Christina - I did no enhancing to the color. I confess I did try Nik filters, but ended up with either an orange or a blue cast. So I left it alone. I did do a levels layer to make the background black, but then brushed it away over the flowers.

Frank, you and your wife will enjoy Amaryllis Cybister "Chico". Please PM me when your's blooms so I do not miss seeing your new addition.

The blooms are still good on my Red Pearl, so I will go another round today. Ruby Star will be along in the next few days.

Marie

[Marie Hass]

Okay. I am at it again. I went back and re-shot Red Pearl again as I did not like the first image. Here is another try.



My Ruby Star is also just starting to bloom.



When all open, I will take more pictures.

Marie

[FrankMi]

That Ruby Star is another I've not seen before, Marie. Lovely.

The black background still works very well for me but I was a little surprised when you didn't include the stem on the Red Pearl.

[Marie Hass]

I uploaded the same image of Red Pearl. I need to edit. Be right back - done.

Frank, I felt that the stem jarred garishly with the blooms. I can post with, and let you have a look?

Marie

[FrankMi]

I uploaded the same image of Red Pearl. I need to edit. Be right back - done.

Frank, I felt that the stem jarred garishly with the blooms. I can post with, and let you have a look?

Marie

Actually, it's not a problem. In fact I thought it was different and quite interesting to see the Red Pearl blossoms just floating there.

[Brownbear]

The Red Pearl is gorgeous, as is the Ruby Star. I loved the first Red Pearl shot but I can see that this 2nd version is perfection. I love the point of view.

[Marie Hass]

Thanks Christina.

I do like this one better.

I was in such an earlier hurry that I forgot to say that I have caved to buying more amaryllis.

I purchased "Half and Half", "Exotica", "Bogota" and "Exotic Star". All beauties. I will need more windows. LOLs.

Marie

[FrankMi]

Thanks Christina.

I do like this one better.

I was in such an earlier hurry that I forgot to say that I have caved to buying more amaryllis.

I purchased "Half and Half", "Exotica", "Bogota" and "Exotic Star". All beauties. I will need more windows. LOLs.

Marie

LOL! Next you'll be looking for an Amaryllis 12 step program to control your addiction!