Orchid of the Day: Lepanthopsis
Tiny Lepanthopsis astrophora has a name that’s bigger than the plant itself. I bought this Masdevallia relative at a sale at OrchidMania last year, and it’s been in constant bloom for a year. The flowers only last a few days each, but there’s a constant resupply.
If they look small in the pictures, they are! Each flower is just a speck of color, only 1/7 inch (4 mm) tall. The whole plant is just 2.5 inches (6.4 cm) across. Dave took these photos with a macro lens.
Found in coastal rainforests in Venezuela and Colombia, these orchids need daily water and constant high humidity.
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May 18th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
These photos were very difficult to take due to the very small size of the flowers. At just 4mm tall, it’s hard to even see if the flower is in focus! Believe it or not, some of these pictures were taken with a 1:1 macro lens with a +3 diopter attached to get even more detail, so these pictures are even more magnified. The camera is a Canon Rebel XTi, and the set-up was natural sunlight, matte black backdrop, camera on a tripod, and a remote shutter release to reduce camera vibration. The depth of field is so short that not even all of the flower is in focus, and there is still a minor amount of camera shake visible – in the future I may take the photos using mirror-lock and remote shutter release with a tripod mounted camera to try and get the camera vibration near zero. Enjoy the photos!
May 21st, 2008 at 9:09 am
Thanks for the beautiful orchid pics
May 24th, 2008 at 7:03 pm
The unopened flowr buds look like the head of a bird
June 7th, 2008 at 2:42 pm
Amazing photos!!!!