Phrag wallisii aka warszewiczianum

[Achamore]

Took these photos on June 18th, a few days after the blooms had fully opened.

 

[Achamore]

And these were taken today, the 14th of August, so roughly 8 weeks after they opened.

 

[trdyl]

Beautiful!

 

[Erythrone]

Gorgeous!

 

[Ozpaph]

thats great

 

[eteson]

Love the pale coloration of this one!

 

[Achamore]

in the past month, the green has gone from the petals, and it is looking almost bleached. I'm frankly somewhat surprised at how the petals are still hanging on still.

 

[Achamore]

That's just over 60 days now.

 

[SlipperFan]

Stunning flowers. I don't know which I like more, this or popowii.

 

[Marco]

One of my favs. an 8 week bloom is a good time span

 

[eaborne]

Stunning photos!

 

[Gilda]

I showed mine yours....they have long petals to fill !!! Awesome!

 

[abax]

The flower has become a blonde and I really like it.

 

[Achamore]

One of my favs. an 8 week bloom is a good time span

One of my favourite species too. And I am beginning to wonder about the water here, if it is the reason for the long bloom times. We're told to avoid dissolved salts, but of course most phrags would have water with a lot of dissolved salts. Its the epiphytes that want to avoid the salts, yes?

 

[Felix]

Wow - stunning! Thanks for sharing these great photos!

 

[Achamore]

Wow - stunning! Thanks for sharing these great photos!

Hi Felix, my shooting technique is pretty simple. Use a tripod (absolutely vital). I drape a very black cloth behind the orchid, and preferably at least 4 or 5 feet behind. If it is too close you can sometimes see the cloth, whereas I am aiming for pure black as the background, to avoid visual distraction. I almost always use ambient daylight, so I have a table set about 8 feet away from a large window. There's another large window at another end of the room. And I then simply bring the aperture down to something like f16 to f20, shooting in Manual mode. On a day of soft light, which is pretty common here in Scotland, with ISO 100 that will typically mean an exposure time of just under 1 second. And that's about it.

 

[Hamlet]

Beautiful plant & photos!

I thought warscewiczianum had dark flowers? I bought one assuming it would be dark. It hasn't bloomed yet so I guess it will be a surprise whether it will have dark or green flowers.

 

[Silvan]

Beautiful plant & photos!

I thought warscewiczianum had dark flowers? I bought one assuming it would be dark. It hasn't bloomed yet so I guess it will be a surprise whether it will have dark or green flowers.

Yes it does, that's why he wrote (man, he's gonna make me spell it) warszewiczianum

 

[phraggy]

Hi Don, this is a great wallissii which has been well cared for. Quite happy with my pics but going to try your f stops to see if I can improve.

Ed

 

[Achamore]

Hi Ed, using a narrow aperture certainly is the only way to improve depth of field. Combined with a low ISO for optimum colour saturation then it means a longish exposure. The prosumer cameras out there tend to make it a little hard to use straight manual mode, but it will give the best results. Oh, by the way, Ratcliffes are offering a Plemont for £600, and another for £300. Out of my price bracket..! But I thought you might like to know.