For the sake of appearance, colour can make a world of difference. In tropical rainforests, a bright upper canopy, rich in blue and UV, and a dark understorey, rich in green and orange, contrasts two distinct light environments.
When discretion is important, bright greens blend better in the upper canopy, whereas dark browns have the advantage in the understorey.
When advertising an invitation to treat, as it were, bright blues glow advantageously in the upper canopy, whilst yellow and red signals optimise conspicuousness in understorey. The Hairy Red Pittosporum P. rubiginosum ssp. Wingii, of Australia’s tropical rainforests, is an excellent example of the latter.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
I’ve been meaning to ask for a while Neil, what gear do you use to take these great photos?
bikerider,
My camera is a digital Canon EOS 5D. I use a variety of lenses. Data for this image: Photo was taken at night. Shutter speed: 1/10s., F-stop: f/22, ISO: 100, Lens: EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, Flash: Fired.
Top pro AGW’er backtracks. Please throw these model away ther costing us billions in wasted resources and time. Of course because it Tom Knutson its alreday got 300+ news stories
http://www.theledger.com/article/20080518/BREAKING/813623488
but it seems indeed that the AGW theories are falling apart and mainsream scientist are wanting to leave some proof that in fact they were not that pro-AGW after all LOL
http://www.theledger.com/article/20080518/BREAKING/813623488
Great photo Neil! Yes you need these brilliant colours to be seen in the understorey. I destroyed a bush orchid [Dipodium punctatum] today slashing firebreaks in poor understorey light.
The Pittosporum undulatum does well here and the Qld but I’d like a hairy red.
They look delicious. Like nature’s fruit salad.
Lovely photo Neil. The Pittosporums seem to be very widespread and adaptable. We have a graceful, delicate looking tree (P. phyllireaoides) in the semi-arid areas which has thin leaves, the same coloured fruit but smaller red seeds. Locally called false sandalwood or native apricot. I understood the fruit is poisonous for humans, but on looking it up, it appears that aborigines may have ground the seeds for flour (Plants of Western NSW).
So James, I would hold off a bit about the fruit salad.
Hi Neil,
re. “Canon EOS 5D”
Maybe not your field, but I am interested in a digital SLR camera.
Any suggestions?
Johnathon,
When I bought my Canon I was told by the salesperson (in retrospect a dire-hard Canon-ite) that ‘there was no choice; it was a one-horse race’. On the basis of that biased advice, I would have preferred the top of the range D-1, but it was around the twelve-and-a-half grand mark, without lenses. Mine was two-fifths the price for much the same quality, but without the weather-proofing. I believe it has since dropped in price considerably further.
Sometime later, I had a senior Nikon executive on a night-walk and he was furious to learn that his company’s product range had been so poorly misrepresented by the retailer. A professional photographer has also came in to capture cassowary images and he was a firm adherent of Nikon, but I suspect it will always be a decision that is biased by a pre-existing investment in lenses.
Hope this helps.
Thanks for the info Neil.
My pre-existing investment in lenses was stolen so I’m a free spirit.
I like the Canon but I’ll have to do some research.
Actually, I’m of the opinion that the research is more fun than eventually owning the product, be it a car, camera, computer etc.
bikerider; you could be suprised by some of the pocket point and shoot digital models in macro mode like the old coolpix 4300.
Gavin
I’ve been using such cameras for years and they’re very good. The macro on my current Canon A95 is difficult to use but I bought my partner a Canon 720 and it’s macro works very well.