International Aroid Society

With outside gardening slowing down and only the mild distractions of the holidays looming, it is time to contact me with ideas and/or outlines for articles for the next Aroideana. I have some good papers promised with serious taxonomic subject matter and now need more that will be of value to members whose interests are more practical. Don’s email on photographing plants for id purposes could well be expanded – I could see it taking in the consideration of what features particularly need to be photographed in any one genus to make the id possible. There have been other mentions of this in recent postings: a nice collaborative paper on this would be of great value. More hands-on topics? Of course, and again a collaboration by growers in different parts of the world on a topic might provide something of general interest and real value. Please remember that I can assist with the writing and editing, and can coordinate efforts, but this is all takes time, and the deadline is only a month and a half away. What about a regional review of people and gardens to visit when travelling through an area? I’m not going to write these things, but will be glad to consider them or any others for publication.

So, all the people who say that the journal needs to be of more general interest need to get stuff to me for consideration. I can’t print what I don’t have.

Regards, Derek

From: aroid-l-bounces@www.gizmoworks.com [mailto:aroid-l-bounces@www.gizmoworks.com] On Behalf Of Don Martinson
Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2010 7:12 AM
To: Discussion of aroids
Subject: [Aroid-l] Using photos for plant ID

Taking photos of our plants is sometimes a challenge, particularly when we want to post them for others for identification. They may be indoors, in poor light, in a difficult or awkward location or position. Our goal should be to obtain a photo with as much detail as possible.

One common problem seems to be that photos come out too dark, with insufficient detail. Using a flash isn’t always the answer, as it can give a washed out appearance. A technique which I often use is to use my photo editing software (Photo Studio – a very simple program which came with my scanner) to take a dark photo and increase the brightness. See how this technique has modified 2 photos recently posted for ID. The “new” photos make not make the ID, but there is a lot more with which to work.

Don Martinson
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Mailto:llmen@wi.rr.com