Spring is here at last!

One of my friends organized a trip up to Mount Vernon on Friday. I left Seattle at around 4:25am, met up with the crew, and arrived in Mount Vernon at around 6:15. We puttered around a bit, looking for the "best" daffodil field, and parked.

The "best" daffodil field is a tough one to determine, because they don't look that different from each other. The one picked had a bit of a hill, and more space for us to park than the others. :)

The first shot here is an attempted HDR, showing the sky, the flowers, and one of the farmhouses in the area. I merged the HDR in Photoshop CS4. It seems to work fairly well; I'll have to keep experimenting. I have a lot to learn about working with HDR images.

Although I did do come up with some wide-angle shots like the one above, most of my images are, as usual, close-ups.

I found this bug while setting up a close-up on one of the many daffodils in full bloom. The insect didn't move while I set up the shot, so I had plenty of time, one advantage of being out there so early in the morning.

I don't know whether the insect was hiding there, or feeding. Possibly both. I need to learn more about daffodils and insects, I suppose :)

This was some dew that I found on one of the daffodils. I like seeking out little details like this, there's always something new to discover if you look closely enough!

The hard part is setting up the shots, more than just finding them. With the magnification that I was using (Nikon 105mm VR Micro + Nikon 2x teleconverter), there was very little depth of field available, so I couldn't get all of the dew drops in focus. Instead I had to pick one, and attempt to arrange a composition around them that that didn't require that the rest of them be sharp. Even then, it wasn't an obvious setup, and it took several tries to get it to this point. I'm still not entirely satisfied with this image, because I think it needs to be sharper.

I'll get a second chance when we go back to the Mount Vernon area in search of tulips. :)

Blazing Star

At Lava Beds National Monument, my mother and I hiked to the summit of Schonchin Butte, the one cinder cone in the monument that you're allowed to hike on. There is a fire lookout station at the top of the 700-foot-high butte, but there was no ranger on duty when we made the trip.

The view from the summit is impressive. You can see Mount Shasta quite clearly from there, as seen in this photograph. In this view, you can also see some of the Medicine Lake Volcano, which has an enormous 800-square-mile footprint, but not that much height, only around 4000 feet.


And here is an exmple of a blazing star (Mentzelia laevicaulis).

The summit of this cinder cone is pretty incredible. On the one hand, it's not much but a pile of tephra and pumice with a huge lava flow originating at its base, but at the same time, it has a surprising amount of vegetation on it. And yet, to the northeast, you can see the Tule Lake National Wildlife Refuge alongside the fertile farmlands of Tule Lake.

Aavlanche Lilly

Here is a shot of an avalanche lilly that I captured during the last hike to Van Trump Park. It had become cold and rainy while we ate lunch, so we weren't all that keen on lingering, but I couldn't resist these beautiful flowers. Though I regret not being able to get a good shot of the south summit of Mt. Rainier, known as Point Success, at least I got one of these!

I used my usual macro setup, the 105mm VR macro lens with my Metz flash aimed into my reflector (silver side) that Kelli held for me. Because I was raining, I shot this one hand-held.

The Taylor River

I hiked the Taylor River trail as far as Big Creek Falls with these two lovely ladies a few weeks ago.



I had hiked the same trail in November before the snow started, and ended up with this shot of Otter Falls. The lake that it pours into is Lipsy Lake. I had wanted to return in spring to get some shots of the falls in higher flow, and also for the spring foliage and wild flowers.
On the first trip, the sky was overcast and the quality of the light was very soft and diffused. It made waterfall photography very easy. The second time, the weather was great for hiking; the sky was clear and blue. The light was harsher though, so it wasn't as good for waterfall photography the second time around.
So instead I photographed mainly wildflowers and my companions. :)
Here is a trillium:

I photographed this with my 105mm VR micro lens with a Nikon 2x teleconverter. I used my RRS focusing rail, and a reflector to balance the light out a bit.

I am not sure what this berry is, but I liked its look and the background.

And this is Otter Falls in spring, photographed with my Sigma DP-1.

You don't need exotic places

To find interesting subjects. I found this spider perched on a flower right outside my front door while I was unloading my gear from my car, so I took a few minutes out to photograph it, while my cat Calypso kept calling me from inside. She loves attention and does not like to be denied :)
I used my d80 with the Nikon 105mm VR micro and a Nikon 2x teleconverter. I held my reflector above the spider and aimed my flash into it to light the spider.
If anyone reading this can help identify this spider, I would appreciate it. I'm certainly not an expert at identifying arachnids, but I would like to learn!