Yellow Lady-slipper Orchid

There is a small colony of these beautiful orchids not to far from where I live in southwestern Arkansas. I photograph them each year in part because they are so beautiful and in part because I haven't quite gotten the image I want yet. I got closer to what I wanted this year but there is still work to be done.

This particular colony grows in a wet bottomland hardwood forest. Although a bit of sunlight does reach some plants, the overall lighting is moderately open shade which dictates a higher ISO (1000 in this case) than I would otherwise use. This year, I tried a translucent panel above the flower to even out the lighting and used a little fill flash (@ -3.0) to give the color a bit of a boost without creating unmanageable specular highlights on the flower.

Nikon DSLR, 105mm micro, SB-900 flash, Gitzo tripod, and Lastolite reflector.

Charles, terrific shot! What an outstanding looking slipper and you've captured it in all its glory. Even the short hairs along the stem stand out in fine detail. As you may know, Kentucky Lady's Slipper Orchid, Cypripedium kentuckiense, is a fairly newly described species in the world of plant taxonomy. I met the Kentucky discoverer back in the 80s and he told me that he regretted letting the word out that he had found a new species before he had a chance to officially publish it. Someone went behind his back and scooped him.

I plan to be in the Hot Springs area Monday to photograph it for a book project that I am working on. Nice to see that my timing will be good.

Best,
Don

Yes, I agree, "terrific shot" to echo Don's observation.
the fisch

A fine shot of a rare beauty. Nature in all her natural elegance.

I stumbled onto a patch with more than 125 of these the other day - more than I've ever seen in my entire life put together, all in one location. Always great to see these yellow jewels arrive, although now with so many to choose from I don't know which ones to point the camera at...

Very nice! I'd love to see a large group of them. We found one plant along the northern entrance to Twin Falls yesterday. First one that I've ever seen. We spent some time filtering the light and I hope to have captured a "keeper" image.

Beautiful Charles! We couldn't believe we stumble across the one on the trail the other day at the gathering. You ought to have seen the lady-slipper-azzi! There were 3 of us surrounding that thing with tripods, cameras, reflectors...Had I had another camera with me, I would have shot that scene, just because it was so darn comical. Had a hiker came a cross us, they would have thought we were a bunch of nut cases!

Karla - that lone flower that you photographed is very old - at least 25 years or more. I first saw it back in the early 1980's when doing work for the forest service in there - first one I had ever seen. It continues to amaze me how it has survived this long - especially in full view of hikers - but also how it has never spread to more plants. I guess it needs a partner to reproduce! Such incredible pure yellow that really lights up the forest. I bet you all got great photos of it.

Tim, we did see one more by it's self. I can't remember exactly where, but it seems like it was within the immediate area of the one we shot. That's neat to know it has survived so long...Maybe in another 25 years it will have a few partners...

Wonderful shot Charles... well composed and executed. Thanks for sharing.