VERY nice Kelly!! Absolutely beautiful! What's the flower with the "major allergen"? Kind of looks like hibiscus? I always enjoy looking at your great pictures. Thanks for sharing!

Nancy,
It's the inside of tree peony flower preparing to go to seed. Those whitish things become seed pods. Went out in the garden the other day and took bunches of macro shots...gave a whole new meaning to abstract art courtesy of mother nature! There's so much I don't notice with the naked eye.... This same tree peony has new flowers blooming that are MUCH lighter in color.
Kelly

Ahhhh, so nice....
Professional images are so much easier on the eyes!
Thanks,

Josh

Beautiful photos Kelly. I really like the close up of Hoya dimorpha.

Mike

What a wonderful collection of colors! I always love seeing bella's blooms, though I don't feel comfortable actually getting bella myself. That and polyneura. I will enjoy your pictures of bella instead!

Also, I find brevialata and DS-70s blooms absolutely adorable.

Quinn,

I find bella easy to grow...no special needs. I've accidentally let the solid green one go completely limp from getting too dry and it always bounces back. Both the solid green and the variegated are good growers. However I struggle with multiflora...go figure.

Don't be afraid to try bella! It's so worth it for those flowers!

Kelly

Mike,
I like dimorpha, too! That's a SMALL plant-have had it less than a year. It's put out 2 peduncles so far this year, although the buds on the other one blasted. Really hoping more light will get the beautiful salmon colored flowers I've seen pictured!
Kelly

Kelly, those all are beautiful! you do take the greatest photographs.

Great photos, I really enjoy it.
I love Breviata, I did not know that is so beautiful in the picture.
The bella makes me feel like flying in the cloud.
Thanks Kelly
sue

Sue,
I love brevialata the most before the flowers totally reflex! They're really cute!

Thanks, Jan. I'm just as obsessed with macro photography now as I am with the hoyas! From one hobby, two obsessions were born....thank goodness for digital photography- otherwise I'd be totally broke!

Kelly do you take the majority of your photos in natural sunlight? I find it hard to get good definition in macro photography or just photography in general when shooting indoors which is unfortunately what often happens when I take photos. Your photos always have such true colour and the subjects are always full of life.

Mike

I tend to try and take photos with natural light only, but I have problems because unless I take the plant down for the pic, they are severely backlit due to the south window. I've been using a fill flash as of late to tone down the contrast, but I hate the way the avg flash photo looks. I do have a question for you, Kelly. Do you Photoshop anything to touch up pics, or is this straight from the camera to the computer to the web? I usually use Photoshop to color correct and resize photos before uploading them to the web, but I am generally picky about things like that. I'm trying not to be as picky, so I can share more often. I do wish I had a digital SLR though. I'd probably have to do less touch ups. Can I be nosy and ask what camera you are using?

My multiflora is now growing, which is nice. For the longest time it did nothing at all. I put it in a south window, and I guess that's what it was waiting for.

Lighting is always an issue. I have the same problem as Quinn with the backlighting from a south facing window, so most of the pics are done with supplemental fluorescent lighting...If more light is needed I'll use a clip on reptile light. Using the indoor setting on the camera seems to keep the color pretty true with the fluorescents. Occasionally I'll take hoyas outside to photograph, but always seem to run into the issue of too much bright light washing the details out.

I use a Canon Powershot A2000 IS - point and shoot. It has one of the tighter macros of the Canon p&s- can get in closer than a half inch from the subject. Just recently picked up a used/refurbished Canon Powershot SD780 on ebay-it's part of the Elph series and is REALLY tiny - great for everyday carrying around- will actually fit in a pocket! The macro isn't as tight, but in the Auto smart mode it will automatically adjust to macro when close to a subject! Both have the Optical Image Stabilizer which helps with taking freehand shots for those of us too lazy to break out the tripod. Both can be bought VERY reasonably if you go with a refurbished unit. Some of the Canons have a Super Macro mode where the lens can actually be touching the subject! Would love to have that one day! I swear by Canons!

I don't retouch the photos- the Canons really produce vivid colors. I do crop, but usually not with the macros. I do want to learn more about photo editing though. Just downloaded the free Photofiltre Elements on my laptop. Producing "paintings" from some of the pics is on my list of things to do! Mark Randall (Stemma) has done some beautiful ones - I think he uses Photoshop for his!

Had no idea how much we miss with the naked eye until I started getting into macro shots!