Night Blooming Cereus

Gallery: FloraPosted July 6, 2012233 views15 comments

These flowers bloom every year, but only for one night! They are wonderfully fragrant!

This was taken at sunrise...after which the flower soon wilts.

Stack of 31, zerene

5D2@100mm macro
ISO 500, f8, 1/160

I removed some petals from an adjacent flower on the bottom left.

C&C appreciated!

Comments

15 comments

Comment posted by Patricia Brundage on July 6, 2012 at 3:45 PM

Beautiful flower. Isn't this the one that only blooms every 50 years? I've never seen a picture of it. Thanks for posting your nicely processed take of a unique bloom

Registered on March 23, 2006, 1111 Posts, 6531 Comments

Comment posted by Morris McClung on July 6, 2012 at 4:09 PM

That is quite possibly the best portrait of one of these flowers I have ever seen. Great light!

Registered on May 7, 2007, 670 Posts, 19650 Comments

Comment posted by Philip Hodgkins on July 6, 2012 at 6:40 PM

A perfectly lovely portrait of a flower I have never seen. I assume you are using a focus rail, but why 31 images with F/8? Is the blossom that large?

Registered on July 24, 2006, 2741 Posts, 12349 Comments

Comment posted by Eirini Pajak on July 6, 2012 at 6:48 PM

Phil,

The larger the blossom, the farther away, the less I usually feel the need to stack! I was quite close to it & there were several undesireable plants (twigs & branches) that I wanted to blur to simplify the background, hence the wider aperture. I like all the little stamens to be in focus! So at f8 I need to do several images in order to achieve that. If you blew this up very large you would see ALOT of detail. No focusing rail was used.

Registered on December 13, 2011, 216 Posts, 1671 Comments

Comment posted by Mark Windom on July 6, 2012 at 7:01 PM

Terrific job on the stack...f8 was a good choice. Love the light and detail. I've never heard of this one, thanks for the education.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 176 Posts, 2302 Comments

Comment posted by Gary Yeoh on July 6, 2012 at 8:24 PM

Erini
Not seen one of this before and to see one so perfect and well captured is a real treat.

Love the light. Is this taken near sunset?

Registered on September 1, 2009, 588 Posts, 8184 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on July 6, 2012 at 10:48 PM

Hi Eirini

A marvelous subject like this deserves the best photography possible.. which you admirably achieved. Exceptional color,detail and light

Albert Darmo

Registered on November 25, 2008, 1386 Posts, 11978 Comments

Comment posted by John Williams on July 7, 2012 at 11:22 AM

Beautiful flower, and I love the lighting you caught here. Good job on the stack!

Registered on September 6, 2007, 221 Posts, 5985 Comments

Comment posted by Ramamohan Pai on July 7, 2012 at 5:19 PM

Eirini - Absolutely stunning in every way. The light is nice, stacking fabulous and the details at the center just awesome.

Registered on November 1, 2003, 550 Posts, 9037 Comments

Comment posted by Bill Fach on July 7, 2012 at 9:20 PM

Eirini: What a beautiful flower and great capture of the moment. I love the light and your whites management. Superb image. >=))>

Registered on November 1, 2003, 1805 Posts, 26981 Comments

Comment posted by Bob&Charly Nelson on July 8, 2012 at 2:22 PM

Wonderful portrait Eirini. The composition, light and DOF are just wonderful in my opinion.
Bob

Registered on October 27, 2005, 289 Posts, 4202 Comments

Comment posted by Barbara Graham on July 8, 2012 at 9:35 PM

Beautiful colors and light, wonderful composition.

Registered on July 27, 2010, 1310 Posts, 5035 Comments

Comment posted by SandyRichardsBrown on July 11, 2012 at 4:03 PM

Beautiful bloom and lovely image -
congrats on the WP!
Sandy

Registered on November 24, 2003, 3937 Posts, 12909 Comments

Comment posted by Albert Darmo on July 12, 2012 at 10:22 PM

Hi Eirini

Congrats on a well deserved WP