The Temperate Jungle

That word, "jungle," was running through my mind all morning this morning as I tromped around through Meadowdale County Park. Puget Sound forests aren't technically "rainforests," but they can still be very lush, especially along streams, near the water, and in rainy years. The forest at the park fulfilled all of these criteria. The shrubs are all very happy now, and in this park, fed by the stream and rainwater funneling down the ravine, many of them are as tall as I am.

Stream shots are surprisingly difficult to pull off, and the one above is one of my better ones to date, I think. One of the largest difficulties is finding an adequate setting for your polarizing filter. If you polarize the angle too much, you might eliminate all the light reflecting from the stream itself, which of course ruins the effect. On the other hand, to little polarization and all the leaves give off a distracting glare. Also, the long exposures required take a lot of physical discipline, at least for me. If I move or breathe - or even think about moving or breathing - while the camera is still running, I foul up the whole thing. (I keep the camera strap around my neck at all times for protective purposes).

More jungle shots:

I also took some closeups. Not all of them worked, and most of them had a smaller depth of field than I would have cared for - but I needed the shutter speed, even with the ISO jacked up a bit (I had it at 400 for the closeups, and usually don't take it much above that, because the image quality starts to degrade). Here are the highlights, a vine maple opening up; a large-leaved aven (I think); and a plant I haven't identified yet, since it looks similar to several plants in my book.

My camera doesn't like really deep/pure yellows and reds; it sometimes loses detail because, as I read somewhere, it "overexposes" the color. I was having that problem this morning, and need to research it further.

I also took a picture of a flower I had never noticed before. According to my book (if I identified the flowers correctly), they're called Pacific Bleeding Heart. They're pretty small and low to the ground, so it's easy to see why I've missed them before. But I think they're rather pretty.