Tuesday, June 27, 2006

Time-Lapse Photography of a Spider Lily Bloom Opening

A couple of years ago I was the recipient of some spider lily bulbs from a root bound parent plant. The bulbs have done wonderfully, and hopefully we will have some bulbs to share someday ourselves.

This is a time-lapse sequence of a spider lily flower that opened tonight. It opens in no time at all, with the main part of the show just 15-20 minutes.

The flowers open at dusk (notice it getting darker) as it's night-pollinated (moths, etc.). The species seen here is native to Mexico, growing near river banks and similar habitat. It smells really sweet at night!

I took the photo using the D70's onboard flash with the camera on a tripod. It's amazing how much the plant moves over the course of an hour and a half or so, heh. I used a total of 34 photos to make this animation. If you want to see a continuously-looping animated GIF version that is slightly higher-quality click here (dial-up warning, 4 mbs).

1 comment:

tiffini elektra x said...

Oh Mike - this is flippin' AWESOME! More time-lapse videos!! More!! The supersize is just fantastic - it almost looks like claymation or something - the movement of it.