I'll start things off with a flower that was all over the place, heart-leaved arnica (Arnica cordifolia). I'd seen these before, on my Kamiak Butte trip, but had yet to make a satisfying photograph of them.
For this first image, I used an aperture of f/3.5, to isolate the center of the flower as much as possible and blur the petals. I think this improves the feeling of depth.
For this second image, I used f/13, because I wanted to put the foreground flower in context and get some definition in the background flowers.
Below is one that was new to me, old man's whiskers (Geum triflorum). This one I shot at f/6.3 - wider apertures blurred the stem and background flower too much, making them unintelligible blobs. The green background is thus slightly splotchy, but it's not too distracting.
Next is what I believe to be globeflower (Trollius laxus ssp. albiflorus). I used f/3.8 to blur the background as much as I could. I had my camera right on the ground to get this perspective. I can't remember whether I was using my tiny tripod or just using the dirt; either way, I wanted get a straight-on perspective, rather than photographing them from above.
Of course, what trip to Eastern Washington in the spring would be complete without that ubiquitous feature of grassy meadows, arrowleaf balsamroot (balsamorhiza sagittata). These two images juxtapose it against different types of trees; quaking aspen in the first and ponderosa pine in the second. For both images, I made use of narrow apertures to get both the foreground flowers and the background trees in focus - I wanted detail in both.
Next is another flower that was new to me this trip, lemonweed (or western stoneseed, or Columbia gromwell) (Lithospermum ruderale). For this first one, I wanted to isolate the flower and blur as much of the leaves and background as I could, so I used f/3.5.
For the second one, I used f/8. Wider apertures blurred the background flowers too much.
Here is a closeup of a blooming lupine, lit up by some filtered sunshine that was shining through some trees. I had set up this composition while the lupine was completely shaded; the light came as an extra bonus. I wanted to boost the amount of the foreground flower that I had in focus, so I used f/5.6. Even so, it was barely enough, but I didn't want any more background detail.
Below is Hooker's fairybell (Disporum hookeri). I shot this flower on Kamiak Butte also but I like this composition better; I think the background leaves complement the flowers nicely. Also the darkness of the background helps eliminate distractions. I used f/3.5 to isolate the foreground flower as much as I could.
Next is false Solomon's seal (Smilacina racemosa). I used f/3.2 to isolate the in-focus areas of the inflorescence. I wanted to feature the arrangement of the leaves, and I think this composition does that. Doing so was all about perspective - shooting straight-on, rather than from above, so that the undersides of the leaves would appear in the lower half of the frame.
Next is a a group of penstemon flowers, probably Small-flowered penstemon (Penstemon procerus). I used f/5 because wider apertures did not put enough of the foreground flower in focus, making the image look generally blurry and not all that attractive. I found the majority of these plants growing among rocks, and had to do some searching to find some flowers with a background that wasn't whitish-brownish-gray.
The next one I am having a tough time identifying, but it might be rayless mountain butterweed (Senecio indecorus). I found these mostly along the Monument Creek trail, and not so much out and about in the Methow Valley area. Here, I stopped down ever so slightly to f/4.5 to boost the amount of the flower that I had in focus.
Next is star-flowered false solomon's seal (Smilacina stellata). I wanted to include the leaf pattern in the composition; I think it adds some interesting symmetry to the composition. Even at f/3.5, I still had plenty of definition in the leaves.
The flower below belongs to a shrub that I haven't identified yet. I'm going to keep looking, but I wanted to go ahead and post this. I found it growing in the more desert-y places. For this one, I used f/6.3, because wider apertures had too small of an in-focus area on the foreground flower. I was close enough to the subject that there still wasn't too much background detail.
Below is a paintbrush just beginning to open up; the red parts will be the bracts. I stopped down just a bit to f/4.5 to get more of the bracts in focus.
We'll end with another flower that was new to me this time: that of black gooseberry (Ribes lacustre), which I found growing along Rader Creek. In both cases, I used the fairly wide apertures of f/4.2 to isolate the flowers that I had in focus and blur the leaves, reducing them to just shapes.
Thanks for reading!
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