Woo hoo! Another fall-themed indian pipe shot. The brown stick phase of these little guys is so interesting, but I find it difficult to capture well. It’s the texture and the funny shape the seed pods take that attracts me. Their dark coloring is a challenge, too; hard to light. I think I did ok with these though.
I shot a few with a plain brown background (an old oak leaf), but then I decided to put a couple red and yellow leaves back there and bam! Another fall shot. Even though the flowers dry and stiffen like this in summer, their brown, dessicated crunchiness just seems more appropriate to autumn somehow.
Shooting-wise, this one was tough to set up. I used a tripod and had a heck of a time lining up the sensor-plane to the angle of the tops of the seed pods. I knew I’d need them both in focus for it to work, but since they’re separated and at different heights, tripod contortions ensued. All part of the process and I didn’t really mind seeing as it was a gorgeous day and I couldn’t hear anything except birds calling and the wind in the trees.
Whoa, this is a cool photograph. Sounds like a heck of a time composing the shot, but I really like the juxtaposition between the darkness of the Indian pipe, and the vivid red color of the background behind them. Really well done!
– Nate
Maybe more like orange color behind them, haha 😛
Beautifully photographed!
I’ve taken photos of this dessicated flower before, but not such a close macro, and certainly not with a colorful leaf in the background. As hard as it was lining up the plane of focus, it really came out well.
Thanks everyone. After years of screwed up shots, I finally have developed a tiny bit of presence of mind in the field when it comes to set up. I never thought I’d get into the habit of doing certain things (like lining up my plane of focus to the sensor plane), but now I’ve been practicing it’s coming more naturally.
found this flower in Brockton Massachusetts and had a hard time finding it on the computer. i hope you all do find it so easily. it was strange there was just one lonely little one just sitting there and so i put paper around it so people would see it but i came back later and someone had broken its little stem. 😦
I’ve seen them one at a time, too, Derek. Hopefully yours comes up again next year. As long as the fungus they need to pull nutrients from the soil is around, more flowers should bloom.