At this point in the summer, the wildflowers have a more subtle beauty than earlier in the year. Their colours are less exuberant and seem to reflect the change of season. The first photograph made me think of a bouquet, minus the vase 🙂 With the unusually hot weather we’re having I hope the flowers hang on for a while longer.
These flowers came into bloom within a day or two of a heavy rainfall. Despite their lovely sounding name I spotted them off a suburban bike path. Both photographs were taken in bright sunlight using a 300mm lens. The second one, taken a day later had the lens fitted with a teleconverter and taken at F-6.3, the background had less bokeh. I had geared up to try my luck with a kingfisher I had seen earlier in the week. It didn’t make an appearance but the flowers were as nice as ever and as the saying goes you “dance with the one that brung ya”.
These photographs were taken on different days, in different locations; the first in a wildlife garden with my macro lens and the second close to the water’s edge with my 70-200mm. The first shot required very little cropping, the second a bit more. Most everyone loves sunflowers, they just feel like summer but I find the macro shot has a slight edge to it, perhaps because of its starkness. Not just another pretty face.
When I started doing nature photography I tended to focus mainly on birds and insects. This summer I decided I wanted to take more wild flower shots and capture their beauty as well. The first two photographs were taken with my 105mm macro lens using a flash and soft box. This lens lets me get nice and close to my subject, the flash helps to freeze motion and provide some light fill and the soft box softens the light. The third photo was taken with my telephoto lens. I began by cropping the photo but decided that the background added interest and depth to the photo and modified my crop considerably. I made a few adjustments to the highlights and exposure to make the central flower more vibrant.
One of the wonderful things about wild flowers is that they will take root wherever there’s a bit of soil. You can spot them growing in laneways, along the sides of highways and country roads, and forests of course. Their colour and scent add beauty to the landscape and their pollen attracts insects, another benefit. The flowers here are quite different. I was struck by their unique shape and colour; the vibrant yellow of the Salsify and the more muted colours of the others.
Another sign of spring is the arrival of the tulips, they appear just after the crocus no matter the temperature. It’s not unusual to see them sprouting up even with snow still on the ground. Happily, these shots were taken on a warm May day. I used my wide angle lens for long shots of the flower beds. However, given all the people out enjoying the tulips (and getting in my frame) I had more success with the shots taken at a closer range and would have preferred my 105mm lens that day.
BELINDA GROVER PHOTOGRAPHY 