Unknown flora

elf · Post by **elf** » Wed May 19, 2010 10:46 pm

This is about 95% manually stacked, with the other 5% contributed by Zerene Stacker. About 40 images contributed to the stack. The original images were all exposed a bit too far to the right and as a result the ZS stack had a lot of blooming around all of the edges. I blended the originals by hand, then added bits from the ZS stack where it handled the ghosting better. Once the blending was complete, I merged all of the layers and set the mode for the new layer to Multiply with an opacity of 50%.
Normally I'd just pick another one of the flowers (or what's left of the flower) and reshoot, but this was found on a walk and brought back to the studio. It was already starting to wilt by the time I started shooting. It's actually pretty easy (but rather tedious) to blend images by hand. I use a duplicate layer to toggle on and off to see which bits of the layer are sharpest, then paint on the mask of the original layer to show them.

It would be great if someone could Id the plant. I'm going to plant the seeds, so maybe I'll find out next year what it is

Cactusdave · Post by **Cactusdave** » Thu May 20, 2010 12:03 am

I'm not sure without the sight of leaves, but it looks like it could be a (European) plantain, Plantago sp.

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Thu May 20, 2010 4:03 am

Yea definitely a Plantain (Plantago), I posted on on here a while ago.
It looks like Ribwort Plantain (P.lanceolata) but the clue is the leaf shape. Are they long and thin or short and stubby?

elf · Post by **elf** » Thu May 20, 2010 11:12 pm

Thanks for the id. I think I'll cancel my plans for planting the seeds

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Fri May 21, 2010 12:14 am

elf wrote:Thanks for the id. I think I'll cancel my plans for planting the seeds

Oh we've not quite nailed the ID yet, need to know what the leaves look like,what shape they are.

elf · Post by **elf** » Fri May 21, 2010 12:22 am

Cyclops wrote:
elf wrote:Thanks for the id. I think I'll cancel my plans for planting the seeds
Oh we've not quite nailed the ID yet, need to know what the leaves look like,what shape they are.

While I know approximately where it was located in the grassy field, something tells me, I'll not be able to find the leaves for this particular plant.

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Fri May 21, 2010 1:48 am

elf wrote:
While I know approximately where it was located in the grassy field, something tells me, I'll not be able to find the leaves for this particular plant.

There are two main pastoral species in England, P.lanceolata with thin strappy leaves and P.major which has wide rounded leaves rather like a Hosta. However I'm guessing from the flower that it had long thin leaves and was therefore P.lanceolata. But I believe you are in Ireland which may have a different flora to England.
These are interesting plants in that, like grasses they are wind pollinated,which leads me to believe they are a primitive group of plants that arrived on the scene before insects did.

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Fri May 21, 2010 7:31 am

Elf, here's my Plantain pic from last:

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... t=plantain

gmazza · Post by **gmazza** » Fri May 21, 2010 6:01 pm

What aperture you used in the original images ? Looks very sharp...

elf · Post by **elf** » Fri May 21, 2010 6:39 pm

Cyclops wrote:Elf, here's my Plantain pic from last:

http://www.photomacrography.net/forum/v ... t=plantain

It's definitely a different species as your flower has quite a bit more height to it. We'll try wandering through the same field this weekend to see if we can find the plant.

gmazza wrote:What aperture you used in the original images ? Looks very sharp...

It was f5.6 with the El-Nikkor 50mm. Sharpening was done on two layers, the first using an unsharp mask at 20, 50, 0 and the second a highpass filter at 4.0. This seems to give a good overall sharpness that works for the full size image as well as the downsized to 1000 pixels forum size.

elf · Post by **elf** » Fri May 21, 2010 6:41 pm

Cyclops wrote:
But I believe you are in Ireland which may have a different flora to England.

I think it's leprechans in Ireland, not elfs

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Sat May 22, 2010 4:03 pm

elf wrote:
I think it's leprechans in Ireland, not elfs

Ah so where are you located?

elf · Post by **elf** » Sat May 22, 2010 8:23 pm

West of Rik, east of Charles, and north by northwest of you

rjlittlefield · Post by **rjlittlefield** » Sat May 22, 2010 9:40 pm

Now there's a good question for a school quiz! Lots of room for thought in that one. I have to quibble though -- I think it's west by northwest of me.

--Rik

Cyclops · Post by **Cyclops** » Sat May 22, 2010 11:32 pm

elf wrote:West of Rik, east of Charles, and north by northwest of you

I don't know US geography verry well but I'm guessing Texas or Oklahoma?