Photography – Hermetospheres

Jewels of the closed terrarium?

Since the times of the ‘plant hunters’ of the colonial era, orchids have held a special fascination for plant lovers. Only a small proportion of tropical orchids live with roots anchored in the soil (terrestrial), far more live as epiphytes on other plants. They obtain moisture and nutrients from the precipitation water that runs down…
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Avoid reflections

My standard method to take pictures is, both for containers as a whole and for details within: Place the light source, a camera flash light with remote control, directly on the lid of the container. This prevents the light source from being reflected on the surface of the glass and thus affecting the image. Today,…
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The dwarf Microgramma

“Microgramma C.Presl is a fern genus of approximately 30 species in the family Polypodiaceae, all occurring in the Neotropics except one occurring in Africa. They are rhizome-creeping epiphytes, growing from trunk bases to the canopy, with a few species also able to grow in rocky or terrestrial habitats. They occur preferentially in wet tropical forests…
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Avoid blurring

Hermetospheres can have a high aesthetic value. If that is part of the motivation behind them, one is tempted to capture the beauty photographically. However, objects behind glass are difficult to photograph. Depending on the optical quality of the glass from which the container is made, the object will appear more or less blurred. My…
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Macro lens for micro plants

Photography can serve various functions in conjunction with hermetospheres. Some images are created for documentary purposes. They can be used to record developments in the glass container over longer periods of time and to compare different states. Other images have an aesthetic value, and in the best case they succeed in inspiring viewers without a…
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In the studio

I was asked for more detail about the way I take the photographs of my hermetospheres in addition to the basics provided earlier, so here it is. Can permanent light be used as main light instead of a camera flash, and does this make a difference for the result? Make your own judgement: You can…
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White lines around the glass

Until I developed the ambition to produce pictures of my hermetospheres of a certain quality, I had no experience whatsoever in studio photography. “Studio” reads highly sophisticated, but in fact, my approach is rather simplistic. Having studied the pictures made by Ulf Soltau, I had a fairly good idea of the desired outcome, but none…
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Category: Photography