family portrait

Today, I was looking at the various Penstemon linarioides in my yard, and realized that it would be easier to see the differences if I could see them all together. I decided to do it as a studio family portrait. P. linarioides is known to be a variable species, both in flower color and in plant form. In my yard, the various plants that I have do have variation in leaf size and color, plant height, flower color, flower size, angle of flower, number and prominence of bee lines. The plants are all slight variations of moundy creeping though. From the books, there seems to be even greater variation that I see in my yard.

I actually did the white background (below) first, as a variation on a botanical pressing, but quickly realized that when placed upon paper, the flowers could only be seen from the side. The wonderful bee-lines, color of the face, and details couldn't be seen. What you don't realize from the photo is that the plants are decumbent (lying flat on the ground at the base, then rising a bit toward the tip), and the flowers are outward facing. This makes the flower at an awkward angle for photographing.

In the top photo, the stems are all placed in floral foam so that the stems are leaning into the camera at a 30-45 degree angle. I also decided to use a black background instead of white. I like both results. You can see the variation in size and color of the flowers. It seems that in the black background, the photos came out slightly more blue than reality, except for the single blue flower at the bottom left in the photo above (and second from the right in the photo below). That flower really is that blue. The colors seem more accurate with the white background. It could also be perception: the black background in the photo alters how the flowers are seen compared to real life where there are a number of competing colors surrounding the plants. It could also be the balanced light of the flash, whereas I look at the flowers with ambient light.

I must say that it was difficult cutting the stems for the portraits. Poor things.