More pictures

I've posted a few images of the recent Ramsey order but still had 13 to do. I shot 11 of them today using focus bracketing, shooting 24 images of each at various focus points. I stacked as few as eight images and as many as all 24 to get the final results. I still have to take a shot of the Bonsai Bowl which contains the two unidentified extras. I also included a couple shots from the greenhouse of the four healthy Sempervivums and the "Spring has sprung" alliums.

I'm now aware of a significant limitation of focus bracketing in macro photography. With a mostly-flat surface like a coin being shot at an angle, it works great. With a subject like a plant which has leaves in front of other leaves, the process can not bring a back leaf into focus where it is close (line of sight) to a front leaf. When the back leaf is in focus, the front leaf is blurry and that blur covers part of the back leaf. You can see it in most of these images, for example the leaves at about 2:00 in the first image. I think the AI in Photoshop helps a little bit but sometimes makes things worse, as it did with the Sedum Jelly Bean stack. I had to clean that up a little bit.

With these plants, the problem can be minimized by shooting from a higher angle, which I should do anyway with something like the Cubic Frost to better show off its structure. I also could shoot with a smaller aperture, but as is usual in photography there are tradeoffs, namely longer shutter speeds and less blurring of the far background which you do not want to be in focus. For all of these images, I stopped down from the lens maximum aperture of f/2.8 to f/4.0, but that had minimal effect.

In no particular order, the recent additions include:

Echeveria Setosa Var. Deminuta, a fuzzy Echeveria.

Echeveria Blue Curls, there is some leaf damage on this from hitting the edge
of the pot it was in, it looks more red than blue. We will see how it develops.

Echeveria Lilac Mist, came with four rosettes, I pulled one off and
put it in the Montage bowl. I seems a bit more green than when I got it.

Echeveria Compressicaulis, a more upright Echeveria.

Echeveria Chroma, it shifts colors with the seasons, I have high hopes for this one.

Echeveria Cubic Frost, weird leaves, an overhead shot would do it more
justice. There are three distinct rosettes and I may divide it at some point.

March 13: Here's that overhead shot of Echeveria Cubic Frost.

Sempervivum Strawberry Kiwi, my first Chick Charms.

Graptosedum Alpenglow, colorful, can trail.

Sedum Jelly Bean in a 3D-printed pot.

Aeonium Floresens, my first Aeonium.

Sedum Firestorm.

I did stop at the greenhouse today. It's only three weeks until things really start happening there. The four Sempervivums who survived the Semperpocalypse still seem fine. The allium has some limp leaves, but all the interweb advice is that these do not need much moisture. My moisture meter says the surface is dry but there is moisture down deep. I resisted the temptation and did not water either the Semps or the allium.