Taking the Vietnam Flora from Isolation to Integration - JRS Foundation Grant

I am in Hanoi, Vietnam visiting the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology as part of Doug Daly's "Taking the Vietnam Flora from Isolation to Integration" grant funded by the JRS Foundation.

I have just concluded installing a digital imaging workstation and three days of digital imaging training, including the Nikon D800E and tethered capture via Adobe Lightroom 4.3.

The staff and students at the Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources are already producing impressive images.

Hibiscus sagittifolius

100% detail

Herbarium Vietnamensis

Conserve Useful Plant Resources - Wild Medicine: Healing Plants Around the World

Dr. Ina Vandebroek recently shared a Global Call for Action to Conserve Useful Plant Resources and Associated Traditional Knowledge that was developed during a workshop held at the Missouri Botanical Garden.

A perfect introduction to the upcoming exhibition at The New York Botanical Garden about healing plants like the cinchona tree, the source of quinine, which treats malaria, and white willow, whose bark leads to the production of aspirin.

Wild Medicine: Healing Plants Around the World May 18 - September 8, 2013

Copystand Tutorial - Lightroom Tethtered Capture - Nikon D800-E

Here is a page from a step-by-step illustrated guide to assembling a copystand and how to use Adobe Lightroom's tethered capture feature with the Nikon D800-E camera.

You can view or download the complete guide here

Click and Drag This Picture - Lytro Photography at The 2013 Orchid Show

Here is another fascinating attribute of Lytro photography (lytrography?). In addition to allowing post-capture selective focus (click the image below to see what I mean), you can also shift the perspective of the image (click-and drag).

Click This Picture - Lytro - Light Field Photography at The New York Botanical Garden Orchid Show 2013

I received the Lytro camera yesterday. While I am interested in using it for photographing plant specimens that require broad depth of field, I could not resist giving it a test drive at the 2013 Orchid Show.

Click the image to change the focal point. Double click to zoom in and out.

Fungi Responsible For Most Carbon Sequestration In Northern Forests

Cortinarius armillatus forms mycorrhizal symbiosis with roots of birch trees. 

Credit: Karina Clemmensen

A new study undertaken by a diverse group of scientists in Sweden has found that contrary to popular belief, most of the carbon that is sequestered in northern boreal forests comes about due to fungi that live on and in tree roots, rather than via dead needles, moss and leaf matter.

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-03-fungi-responsible-carbon-sequestration-northern.html#jCp

Nikon d800e Sample Image

This is my first test shot with the Nikon d800e 36 megapixel DSLR using the Sigma 50mm f2.8 DG Macro lens. I will have more on this as I continue to get familiar with the camera.

Click to enlarge