Photographing bulbs while dormant

M. Gastil-Buhl gastil.buhl@gmail.com
Sat, 03 Aug 2013 15:34:06 PDT
I would like to add to what David wrote, as we in the northern  
hemisphere who grow summer-dormant bulbs are now in peak season for  
photographing dormant bulbs.

Of course photos of blooms will always be the main focus of flower  
identification. But there are some instances when a clear photo of the  
corm, tuber, rhizome or bulb clarifies identification. Or, people may  
have a dormant bulb they wish to get an idea what it might be.

If practical, please include some item for scale in the photo, such as  
a ruler, hand, or coin. The ideal scale is a 10 mm (1 cm) grid printed  
AND checked with a ruler then used as the background for bulb photos.  
One can find such grids online at sites such as http://www.printfreegraphpaper.com/ 
  (Choose millimeters and 10 mm Cartesian).

I try to avoid harsh shadows by using cloudy days or indirect  
lighting. I try to include front and back views in one photo if the  
bulb has features that cannot be seen from one view.

If you are submitting the photo yourself, please note our convention  
for file naming, like Genus_species_corms_ABC.jpg or  
Genus_species_bulbs_XYZ3.jpg or feel free to ask a wiki editor to post  
for you. I will be happy to assist.

Sometimes a bulb I received as one name then turns out to be another.  
If you have not seen a bloom from a received bulb, take the photo now  
but wait until you get a positive id by seeing the bloom before  
offering it as a given species. The best situation is to have a pair  
of photos, bloom and bulb, which go together. So, if repotting is not  
slow enough already, add a grid sheet and a camera to your potting  
bench tools.

- Gastil

David wrote:
The wiki depends on people contributing to it, if you want more bulb  
photos, go out, dig up a bulb, photograph it, and send us the photo.  
The long term aim is to produce a page that shows just bulb photos  
(for comparison purposes).





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