Camelia sp.

I believe this is a flower and bud from the ericaceous soil loving Camelia or a related genus like Rhododendron or Azalea. This photo was shot at the mediterranean biome of the Eden Project in Cornwall.
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Nikon D7000
105mm, f/2.8 Sigma Macro Lens
1/1000, f/4.5
ISO100

A tulip in detail

Shot at home on a bright red tulip. Converted to black-and-white for clarity. Can you spot a teeny-tiny aphid in the picture? You may wish to see this picture in a larger size on Flickr by clicking on the photo.

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Camera Settings: ISO100, f/10, 1/125
Lens: 105mm f/2.8 Sigma macro lens

Christmas Cactus

This Schlumbergera truncata in my home is still flowering, well into April when I was expecting this to begin to set new branches for the coming year!

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Schlumbergera truncata – See Flickr for more viewing options

Technical details:

f/7.1, 1/30 second, ISO100, 105mm f/2.8 Sigma macro lens, Nikon D7000

Thanksgiving Cactus (Schlumbergera)

Also known as christmas cactus (but it is flowering here in Cambridge just in time for Thanksgiving), Schlumbergera’s are a strange sort of cactus plants. They have stems that look like leaf-like pads connected to one another. The flowers form at the terminal end of the plant. I grew mine from a small two segment section taken from a friends house and popped into a pot.

Click on the photo for more viewing options.

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Schlumbergera truncata cultivar. Thanksgiving cactus.

Technical Data

Nikon D7000, Sigma 105mm f/2.8 Macro Lens
ISO400, f/13, 3 seconds

Autumn Rose

Autumn 2015 has been particularly great for roses here in Cambridge. My garden was full of roses in their second blooming flush this year and some are still in bloom (in November). This particular english rose has heavy blooms that almost bend the thin branches to the ground.

This photograph has a natural black background generated by the use of a off-camera slave flash at right angles combined with a small aperture f/11 and exposure time of 1/250. Click on the photo for options to view this in larger size on Flickr.
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Technical Details:

Nikon D7000, 105mm f/2.8 Sigma macro lens
f/11, 1/250, ISO100
Post-processed with Adobe Photoshop Lightroom CC