August 2009 Theme – Wildflowers

Lets see what kind of work you have been up to lately. Show us your best wildflower shots from the region.

RichieV

I don't shoot wildflowers too much, but I took a detour to Shrine Pass last week on the way back from working in Vail and checked things out. It was mid-day and not great light so concentrated on some close-ups.

Image made in early June in the San Luis Valley

This is one of the two images I entered and were accepted into the State Fair Art show.

No point in posting one now -- fantastic image Steve, worthy of the State Fair.

Got lucky last month near Trout Lake in SW Colorado.

Wow, great images so far!
I think this one is my best from my wildflower shots this year. This one was taken off Kebler Pass Road west of Crested Butte.
Hope it looks ok on here....had to compress significantly on this one.

Wow John that's a beauty!

Not wild, but it is an heirloom iris from my wife's 96 year old grandmother. Shot in May.

Tachihara 45BR, 4X5 E100G, Fuji 210/5.6 -NW at f5.6, 1/30 at around 1:2. A little swing to get the best focus.

this was early july on the flattops, it was mid afternoon and had just finished raining. the trip turned out to be a real success for me.

Killer shots so far. Mel, that is AWESOME.

Thanks Jesse.

This one is from the hayman burn in June. It took me a while to put it together for a couple reasons. First I discovered that although Epsonscan was indicating it was recording the file to Adobe RGB, it was actually writing to sRGB, and the greens in this file were all wrong. Second, the white balance was off due to the lighting conditions and I couldn't fix that until I had figured out the first problem. I had to crank the compression below 50 for this to fit under the NPN size limit. In the original, the individual flowers and blades of grass can be distinguished and the bark detail in the tree skeletons can be seen clearly.

Tachihara 45BR, 4X5 Fuji NPS160, Nikkor 300M, f32

Nice stuff so far with tons to come, I'm sure. Steve and Mel: You guys should arm wrestle or something. Both shots are incredible! All I can do is add some diversity, so here's "Pink Plains Penstemon" in bloom at the Bohart Ranch. The Bohart is TNC property, about 30 miles east of The Springs. This particular bloom occurred in July and was the best the locals could recall.

Who are you kidding Dave! That penstemon is killer. Kelly and John too. Really nice stuff guys and I'm looking forward to what everyone brings.

Mel-

Nice stuff so far everyone! I missed much of the wildflower season this year due to other commitments, but here are a few new shots.

One from Shrine Pass...

Some wild Iris near the Lost Creek Wilderness

I found some beautiful flowering prickly pear cactus near the edge of the canyon, North Rim of the Grand Canyon on a recent trip with CAZ. The light wasn't cooperating for canyon shots, so I spent a lot of time with the cacti.

More cactus blooms

Last one, promise. (for now)

These were probably my favorites from this year.
#1

#2 The most perfect bouquet I have ever seen nature provide.

And lastly, #3.

Shot in Death Valley just as you see it, no PS to get the black background. I call this one "Reaching for the Sun".

Yuc Yuc Yuc

Blooming mountains in Northern Utah.

Wonderful shots. Lots of talent. Did not get to mountains; found this sunflower and bee in Denver.

Bill Brennan

Also found a little Columbine in Denver.

Bill Brennan

Cactus blooms from the South Coyote Buttes area, Arizona

From 'round Boulder

Wow, awesome stuff all around. Everybody's into close-ups this year. I'll squeak a couple in before under the wire, both from the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness in Idaho:

Beargrass

Beetles on Harebell

I'll try uploading my photo again, now that I've read the instructions!
This is a Calypso Orchid that I shot at Golden Gate State Park in July. The black background is a black umbrella that I carry with me.

Here's a Mariposa Lily from near Crested Butte in July.