Alpine Orchids

Late spring and early summer provide abundant flowering Orchids in Austrian Alps. Some form very prominent flowers while the others are quite hidden and you need to carefully look around. Following photos were made in early July in Hohe Tauern, Austria – mostly about 2000 m a.s.l.

I had a completely new camera, which is not that familiar to me, so some shots were a little challenging. Next time, wider aperture (like f4) might be better for detailed shots. I mostly tried to get full plants with their environment, next time I will try to get also some more detailed shots too.

Some shots might not be the super-aesthetic but I prefer not to fake and destroy the environment around the flowers just to get the perfect shot.

Alpine meadow with flowering OrchidsAlpine meadows and hills with abundant flowering Fragrant Orchids (Gymnadenia conopsea)


Flowering Dactylorhiza majalis OrchidFlowering Western Marsh Orchid (Dactylorhiza majalis)

Flowering Gymnadenia conopsea OrchidFlowering Fragrant Orchid (Gymnadenia conopsea)

Flowering Nigritella nigra OrchidFlowering Black Vanilla Orchid (Nigritella nigra)

Flowering_Nigritella_orchidFlowering Nigritella Orchid – I have no idea about precise identification of this one

Flowering Pseudorchis albida OrchidFlowering Small White Orchid (Pseudorchis albida)

Flowering Coeloglossum viride OrchidFlowering Frog Orchid (Coeloglossum viride)

Alpine meadow with OrchidsAlpine meadow with Larch trees and Western Marsh Orchids (Dactylorhiza Orchids)

Spring Orchids

I like to photograph flowers – and orchids are obviously quite attractive. Finally, with some hints from Michal Vytlačil, I made a first trip aimed to get some orchid photos. The target was the Baba natural reserve near Brno, Czech Republic. Luckily, it was not that hard to find some decent flowers and the timing was almost perfect. The weather was also quite ok with no wind so shooting from tripod was possible.

Spring forest in bloom
Spring forest with bright green colors and spring flowers


Bird's Nest Orchid
Bird’s-nest orchid (Neottia nidus-avis)

Bird's Nest Orchid
Bird’s-nest orchid (Neottia nidus-avis)

Elder-flowered Orchid
Elder-flowered Orchid (Dactylorhiza sambucina)

Elder-flowered Orchid
Elder-flowered Orchid (Dactylorhiza sambucina)

Spring forest with path
Typical Orchid-bearing forest

Fossil photographs

Recently, I was asked to do some fossil photos for the new publication about protected natural reserve. Because of the technical limits and small size of the objects, I was forced to stack the final pictures (some of them from 10+ photos) to achieve good results. I also tried a new approach to artificial software backgrounds. Feel free to comment the results.

Fossil Mollusc

Almost fully preserved ammonite

Sea Urchin in pretty good shape