Bat Faced Cuphea: Cuphea x purpurea

Image Critiques Flora Critiques
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Cupheapurpurea
Cupheapurpurea1500×1251 609 KB

Description: Plants of the genus Cuphea range from the Midwest into South America and are important nectar sources for hummingbirds. Many are cultivated as decorative garden plants and are quite useful for attracting hummingbirds. I photographed Cuphea x purpurea which is a hybrid of Cuphea procumbens and C. llavea. The Mexican species Cuphea llavea is the true bat faced Cupohea and gives this hybrid the flower morphology and resemblence to a bat.

Specific Feedback Requested: D500 200mm f4 Micro (1/4 sec. at f32, ISO 640) Levels, Topaz DeNoise, Dust spot removal, slight bump up of shadows and slight + tweak in Brightness & Contrast. I cropped some from the LH side for composition.

Pertinent technical details or techniques:

Is this a composite?

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Jim: What an interesting flower and simply marvelous color palette and details. I suspect this is a small flower judging by the nicely blurred BG even when using f32. BTW, as an aside I often hear folks counselling against using f32 or even f22 for the supposed deleterious effects of diffraction but I see zero evidence of that here and think the small aperture served you well. Very nicely done. >=))>

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Perfect. You’ve captured the charm of the flower and tamed the reds that are a challenge. I like how you’ve filled the frame so we can see lots and lots of the plant. The crop is tight, but not so tight that you chopped of graphic elements such as the tips of the upper leaves. Sometimes good cropping is a matter of mm’s.

I also like the copy you provided. Plants aren’t just everywhere on the landscape and providing range and crosses in this case give us more to consider.

Thank you.

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