Ladies’ Tresses, in this case Nodding, are fairly small and you might not take them for an orchid on first notice. A closer look makes it more evident. Earlier this month, while I was visiting the site where I find the Greater Fringed Gentian posted around that time, I noticed some Ladies’ Tresses just starting to bloom near the trail. When I went back this past Sunday they were well along.
Just an iPhone shot. But I had a closeup in mind and possibly something a bit more expressive.
Closeup
Beauty in place
What I didn’t capture was the delight of seeing these while listening to the gurgle of the small stream running next to the trail.
Stephen Gingold Nature Photography Blog 
Very, very nice, Steve. It is always fun to come across these little beauties late in the season like this, isn’t it? You’re right, they sort of take you by surprise. There are a couple of different orchids here that I have stumbled across that at first didn’t strike me as being orchids. I like the first shot, of them in a colony, and the second one is a knockout. Very expressive indeed! And lovely that they had a stream nearby.
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I had seen them beginning a few weeks ago and the time that elapsed worried me that they would be passed. Fortunately they take a while to peak. Thanks, Melissa. The last reminds me of your work. 🙂
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We share this one, and it’s a beauty. I still remember how excited I was to find my first ladies tresses on my first trip to Arkansas. Now I know where to look for them around here, and this was a banner year for them. I’ve found at least three species, and there apparently are more in east Texas.
In the second photo, I can’t quite tell: is that dew on the flowers, or is the plant just especially hairy? I very much like the background of the third photo. When I find them, they’re usually in an area that’s a little chaotic, like in your first photo, and smoothing out all that background a bit helps to highlight the orchid. The colors in that last photo are an especially nice variation on fall hues.
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It is both, Linda. There is a dew droplet on each hair, both the stem and the flower. And the frilly edge of the flower accentuates that.
We also have a few different species, but I’ve only found the noddings. I guess it’s a great year for them all over.
Regarding number three, I’ve been trying to work on isolating one or two subjects against a background or even out of both front and back.
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Still yet to come across these when I am out Steve, but you sure have captured their beauty great work !!
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Thanks, Bernie. Hope you find yours soon.
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I have trouble with depth of field when doing closeups of ladies’ tresses orchids, mostly because the tips of the flowers pointing toward me are so much closer to the camera than the ones pointing sideways.
In the third picture, the background has a colorful vitality.
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There are small touches of oof bits. The answer would be to either photograph from a distance to increase the area of sharpish focus and crop or stack it. I did neither, thus the areas of soft.
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What I’ve usually done with ladies’ tresses is use flash so I can stop the aperture way down for better depth of field.
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This is f/16.
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The photos of the isolated flowers are lovely, but it is the melange of blooms in the first photo which appeals to me the most. It’s also a reminder to me that I was supposed to buy wildflower seeds last week!
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Ha! I bought wildflower seeds a few weeks ago, but upon reading the instructions discovered that the species I bought want to be planted in the springtime. I have no problem procrastinating. 🙂
There is plenty to be said for chaos.
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😀 😀
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The third photo communicates that twisting, quiet beauty of Ladies Tresses. They’re such a pleasure to come upon. We have different little orchids here, but they’ve been gone for a while now. Next year!
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Although I’ve not found any, there are a few orchids still around somewhere, I think. But these are always the last I see for the year.
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