Sunday 17 August 2008

Gold!

You've seen the Olympic athletes raise their hands in the air when they win an event. Well, yesterday I had my own "hands-in-the-air" event. I've finally photographed a Drosera whittakeri Scented Sundew.
Actually I've photographed them dozens of times but never successfully. They are very white, small, low to the ground and I've had trouble getting the exposure right or the depth of field right. And they flower best after a fire so normally the background is very dark so getting a metre reading can be tricky. Absolutely beautiful but very frustrating.
We found a small area in the forest near Anglesea that had been burnt recently and the black ground between the grasstrees was covered in the white-flowering sundews. I'd forgotten that their common name is Scented Sundew and didn't get down that low to smell them but I was on my hands and knees to photograph them. The light was good because it was an overcast day and I played around with the + and - settings to get a good depth of field. At home I was able to photoshop the shadows to lighten them a little. As you can see the leaves on this species of sundew are red and covered in dewy glands to trap insects.

And here are a couple more moss species that I found as well. Because it was a wet day the raindrops add a special beauty.

4 comments:

mick said...

We have a couple of drosera species up here but I haven't seen that one. It's beautiful - and your photos are great.

Mosura said...

Well done on the Drosera. Nicely photographed!

Duncan said...

Excellent photos of the sundew Boobook, I remember seeing the species in numbers in the Grampians years ago.

Denis Wilson said...

Beautiful photos. Those tiny plants are well worth getting down and dirty for. I get several tiny Sundews here, but yours seems to have larger flowers.
Your moss photos are beautiful.
Denis