'Mahkato'

leafmould · Post by **leafmould** » Jul 19, 2007 10:54 pm

I took this pic after a thunderstorm this afternoon

Justaysam · Post by **Justaysam** » Jul 19, 2007 11:04 pm

Purty, purty!

newtohosta-no more · Post by **newtohosta-no more** » Jul 19, 2007 11:25 pm

Stunning!!

wishiwere · Post by **wishiwere** » Jul 20, 2007 6:53 am

Love that fullness it has. Nice, and filled with perfect coloring!

HostaDesigner · Post by **HostaDesigner** » Jul 20, 2007 10:54 am

What do you use to make the background black? Is it in a pot? Are you shooting these on black velvet? Just curious...

LisaO · Post by **LisaO** » Jul 20, 2007 12:19 pm

love the colour in this one

Pieter · Post by **Pieter** » Jul 20, 2007 1:06 pm

What do you use to make the background black? Is it in a pot? Are you shooting these on black velvet? Just curious...

There is no denying Jim's photographic skills, he does a SUPERB job, like he does in his hybridizing efforts. It doesn't look to me though as if he uses black backgrounds, just very careful control of the available light and the exposure. While the bulk of the pictures he has posted have the appearance of an almost black background, if you have a properly adjusted monitor you should be able to see some things in the background. In the second shot for example you can see his shoe in the bottom left of the picture, as well as what would appear to be some old bricks.

I see that he uses a Nikon E4500 camera and I cannot help but feel that he uses a tripod or some other means of support for at least some, if not most of his carefully composed pictures. Or else he has a bloody steady hand, particularly on some of the flower close-ups he recently posted.

If I'm not mistaken the vast majority of the pictures he posts are of potted plants. Certainly you can tell from the first picture in this post that this is a potted plant. Again, on a properly adjusted monitor you should be able to see the rim of the pot between the leaf @ the 5 o'clock position and the one @ 3 o'clock.

I don't know Jim, have never met him. Would sure like to, but it's something about the 3 timezones and the distance between us that keeps that from becoming a reality any time soon.

leafmould · Post by **leafmould** » Jul 20, 2007 6:00 pm

Thanks everyone

this hosta just glows in person.
HostaDesigner and Pieter

good detective work

All my seedlings are grown in pots in a soiless mixture in hoophouses with 50% shadecloth.
The background is simply a length of weedguard fabric, supported on three metal rods to form a triangular back drape. This is easy to move around the shade houses and saves me moving large pots to a photo spot.
I do use a tripod but rarely attach the camera to it, but instead, lean the camera against the legs for support.
thanks for your interest

largosmom · Post by **largosmom** » Jul 20, 2007 9:59 pm

Jim. are there more than four colors on this hosta? I have a pretty crappy screen on my laptop and it's hard to see.

Laura