Memorial Weekend part 1

Over Memorial Day weekend, I took a long drive over to Fields Spring State Park, which is south of Clarkston/Lewiston. It's one of my favorite places of all time, I think. Due to the cold and wet weather earlier in the spring, the wildflowers were still in good shape. Conditions were challenging - almost entirely clear skies the whole time with full sunshine. This makes photography hard due to the high contrast of the lighting, the uniformity of the sky, and the difficulty of reading the camera display in the sunlight. Nevertheless, I was grateful for the fact that the weather was quite pleasant for camping.

In the first three compositions here, I omitted the sky to emphasize the views down into the canyons. There was a bit of haze in the air, but I think there is sufficient detail to make the images work. In fact, in hindsight, I like the blue color added by the haze. The flowers are desert parsley in the first, paintbrush in the second. F/25, F/20, and F/20.

Next, a closeup of what I believe to be sticky geranium (Geranium viscosissimum). F/4.5.

Finally, two more "conventional" shots that include the sky. Editing these will be a challenge due to the uneven polarization and the fact that blue sky always seems tricky, at least for me. F/20 in both cases. The flowers are phlox in the first image, lupine in the second.