Nice photos!

Great photos!!!!!!

And the not as exciting.... plant photos:

Hoya vitellinoides

Hoya burtoniae

Hoya polystacha

Hoya obovata

Hoya caudata

Hoya serpens

Eddie,

Again, I have to say, I LOVE your photos. What I love about them is how close up you took them. I usually see photos of whole umbels, but I rarely see real close-ups of the flowers. It's nice to see the actual detail of each flower. I tried to take some similar pics of my hoyas that are in bloom now, but yours have much more color and detail. What camera do you use?? Anyway, here's my try at detailed close-ups of flowers:

Hoya Pachyclada:

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Hoya lacunosa:

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Hoya kentiana (I still can't get over how CUTE these blooms are!):

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So what's your secret?? I still can't get over your bloom pics...so beautiful. You really have great photography skills (this is coming from a novice, but still!). Your obovata, kerrii, and pubicalyx pics has made me so eager for mine to bloom! And your foliage pics are great to....they really do justice to those hoyas. Thanks for sharing :)

Gabi

Your photos are great too Gabi. Sometimes you can get beautiful pictures from cheaper cameras. It all has to do with knowing how to use those macro closeup zoom features. I have had my camera (Cannon Rebel) for about 2 years now and still haven't figured it all out!

Another thing about photography: Do you have any idea how many pictures of one subject a pro will take in order to get just a few good ones? I read once about a National Geo. photographer taking pics in Alaska of grizzly bears for a 5 page spread in the mag, maybe 10 pictures tops - the amount of shots he initially took was in the thousands, something like 20,000. If you took even 50 pics of one hoya blossom you would be sure to get a few great ones! That is one of the secrets, take ALOT of pictures!

Thanks Ines. Yeah, my father goes on trips to Africa, Alaska, Galapagos, etc. just to photograph wildlife, and he used to use HUNDREDS of rolls of film (before digital cameras came out). Most of the pics were thrown out after being developed!

I see what you're saying about getting a few great pics if you took 50. I have to take a whole bunch before I get one that I like of each hoya bloom. But I wish I knew all about that "macro zoom" stuff....I should probably read the information booklet that came with my camera!

Thanks gabro14 and kjlyttle for the compliments. I was just more excited to see the blooms that I never even thought about the quality of the photos. I am not a professional photographer. Quite the amateur in fact. Using just a plain point and click Canon Powershot G6. I try to take photos for reference, so that I can look back to them later in case I wanted something for comparison.

A lot of the photos from above were taken with me hanging over a ledge reaching out with my arms extended, shaking profusely, trying to get a close up shot. Again, amateurish. No fancy zoom lens. And your photos are not too shabby either gabro14! ;)

So no fancy secrets. I don't take lots of shots. I take maybe 2 or 3 of each one and then walk on to the next plant. Unless of course I am fascinated with the plant and take a couple more (aka hoya caudata). Guess I was lucky to have some good shots. Kerrii was the toughest one to shoot. It just wasn't within reach.

I don't ever use the flash on the camera. I find it changes the colors, and since I believe in photographing for reference, I want the colors to be as close to possible as it appears to my eye. And I think overcast days are the best for photos.

Hope that helps. I didn't post all my photos, but you can view them at my flickr account.

Best Wishes,
Eddie

Here is a link that might be useful: Eddie's Flickr Photos

I love the leaves on the Caudata. I have to get one of those. They have kinda the same pattern as Imbricata. I think your photos are excellent (both of you)

Thanks Eddie,
You actually gave some great advice....I didn't realize it's better to use no flash, and also to take pics on overcast days. I'll have to take some of the easily movable plants outside and do this next time I take pics. Great tips...thanks! Going to go look at your other pics now....
Gabi

bihai,

caudata looks even better in person. It looks and feels alienlike. I'm a sucker for weird foliage. I'm sure it would be a great discussion piece at the table except you wouldn't have the piece at the table. ;) The flowers have those long straight hairs, reminding me of mindorensis?

Gabi,
The photos were shot in DC. If you ever want to visit your alma mater....

Oh, and forgot to post this earlier (polystacha):

Eddie

I don't know how you do it Eddie, but somehow you make the flowers look so yummy, I just want to eat them! I would have polystacha for dinner, and then kerrii and obovata for dessert....yum.

But talk of visiting my alma mater just made me lose my appetite :)

Gabi

very nice images!

You have a pic in there called the fruit of life.....what is that plant, it is very neat looking, I might need to find myself one of those. How many megapixels is your cam.....I am looking for a new cam, but I want to make sure I can get good closeups.....what do you use for those??

Beautiful pics!!

Tracy

Really nice pics both of you!!

Eddie: Are the flowers wide open on the polystacha? did you get any cuttings from that one?

WOW - lucky you having all those different hoyas. I had a 30 year old Carnosa that "bit the dust" recently. I had just one plant, but had given away so many cuts over the years that pieces of my baby are all over North Texas. Here's a picture of my sister's baby from my plant.
OOPS - don't guess I know how to do that.
Where do you get your plants? Mail order?

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My sick crimson princess and my sister's 28 year old cutting from my (now dead) carnosa.

Wow...that's one HUGE carnosa. Does it go all the way to the wall? Very beautiful!
Sorry about your carnosas (both the sick one and the one that died). By the way, the top pic is carnosa 'Krimson Queen', not 'Krimson Princess'..still royalty though :)
Gabi

Tracy,
The "fruit of life photo" is of Epiphyllum phyllanthus var. guatemalense monstrose.
Here are some photos of the bloom.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/epiforums/419882883/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/epiforums/243876529/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/epiforums/243876532/
The photos were taken with a Canon powershot g6. It's a 7.1 megapixel camera, although I've found that the megapixels don't mean it's a better camera (it's not the size that matters).

Millaray,
Those blooms should be considered to be fully open. You'll notice I've updated the name on them to Hoya clandestina. polystacha may be an old name.

And just to be a tease, one photo I didn't upload from the batch:

Hoya australis

Enjoy,
Eddie

tx mom, what is that big carnosa in? Looks like one of those oblong wicker planters, my mom used to have one of those....

I would just cut those yellow parts off of your tricolor, they aren't going to come back. What happened to it?

txmom: thats a really huge and nice carnosa you have!! Really nice!!!

Eddie: but did you get any cuttings from that Hoya clandestina. Because that's on my wish list. :-)

The carnosa is in a small pot - 6" I believe - and it is just sitting in the wicker holder. The stand is about 30" tall and the shoots go down to the floor and drape along it by a good 6".
The sick plant - I'm not sure what happened to it. That picture was actually from last fall. It looks much better now since I cut it back. I think it got infected by mildew or bugs or whatever was wrong with the african violets that I had to throw out (about 10 huge plants).
I have been turned off on plants for about a year - everything started getting sick. Now I'm energized and ready to find more hoyas!