Sunday, April 07, 2024

Fun with Pink Flowers

Yesterday, I visited the O'Grady unit of the Green River Natural Area, between Auburn and Enumclaw. In the off-season, at least, this park is one of my favorite spots to hike short of going to the mountains. The forest, even though it is second-growth, is very lush with lots of fun wildflowers, and there are a couple opportunities to get all the way down to the Green River. My main hope was to find some trillium to photograph. I did see some trillium blooming, but none were quite right for a picture. Happily, I found three other flowers - all pink - to photograph.

First, Scouler's coryalis (Corydalis scouleri) just beginning to bloom. I'm happy with how well I was able to blur the background, as well as the presence of some raindrops. F/5.

Next, Pacific bleeding heart (Dicentra formosa). I've taken pictures of these flowers before, but this image really highlights the intricacy of the leaves; I also like the mossy log in the background. F/5.

There were a lot of salmonberry (Rubus spectabilis) flowers blooming as well. I was worried that this image would be too busy, but I think it works. The flower on the right really pops, and the mossy trunks in the background add to the scene. I enjoy how the bright green of the new leaves contrasts with the yellowish green of the moss in the background. F/5.

Finally, a non-floral image: some ferns opening up, with mossy trees beyond. The lens was angled downhill, which really helped; the background is all trees and grass, instead of splotches of overexposed white sky. At a small size, this image looks a bit busy; when I expanded it to take up the entire computer screen, the foreground ferns came through more distinctly and the depth-of-field effect was a bit more convincing. F/5.6.

Rain started to fall off and on after about 10am, and more consistently after noon, so I'm happy with what I was able to achieve before then. Until next time!

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