I was looking for a good Swamp Rose-Mallow specimen to photograph during my recent visit to the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center when I ran across this flower with a very nice looking grasshopper. He was very cooperative and stood very still while I photographed him.
The Swamp Rose Mallow plant is a fast growing plant that has very large, beautiful flowers and can grow as high as eight feet tall. The flowers have five petals and a deep red or purple center and can be as large as eight inches in diameter. It is found in wet areas, such as marshes, ponds, ditches, wet woods, and shorelines. Hummingbirds and bumblebees often visit flowers for nectar, and they help the plant by pollinating it. In this case, the Grasshopper was the pollen carrier.
This image was taken with my Sony A7R II Digital Camera using my Sony 90mm f/2.8 Macro Lens. The camera was set on Manual mode with the aperture set at f/8, shutter speed at 1/250th of a second and the ISO set at 400. I used only natural light to light the subject. I used the Kirk FR-2 Focusing Rail to capture three photographs and brought them together into one image using Photoshop. I finished the image in Lightroom and Nik Color Efex Pro.
This image is best viewed large. Click on the image to enlarge it. You can access the profile for this plant by clicking here. Please use the section below to post your comments, questions or suggestions.
© 2016 T. Kahler Photography
