5/28/2016
12:58
4 o’clock out, 4:10, east end parking lot of Drumheller Springs Park
I have, finally, done what seems to be effective experiment
with the camera settings, at home. The objective, today, is to test those
settings. I have a knob turned to ‘program’. [Who would have thought it?] The
aperture is set at 2.8 f. I don’t remember what else I dinked with. There is a
setting for direct sunshine that I did not set. I thought it might be in
conflict with ‘program’.
Unfortunately, these settings, which seem to be very
effective, screw up the monitor. I have it turned up at bright as it gets and I
can hardly see anything, never mind settings indicators. So no experiments with
settings today. Just use these.
Another setting I did not experiment with said something
about detail in shadow. The current settings have done away with the problem
with bleaching. But they create a problem with ‘shadow detail’ … it goes away
in some images, not all. My photos have been too light and I have had to reduce
the mid-tones to get good images. That problem has mostly gone away, too.
I didn’t do as much cropping as I usually do, to hurry up
the process. There are some photos I enjoyed processing. Many of the photos are
just recording the presence of a species.
There was Linaria dalmatica,
toadflax foliage in the parking lot, the first I’ve seen. No buds, no photos.
I walked from the east parking lot down to east edge of
north pond. There is no water in north pond, but there are water-loving plants
marking an edge of the pond.
I walked down to the edge of the pond where I have seen a
very interesting couple of plants in the past, one was a tall, very odd herb,
no idea of identification. The other was a shrub, Solanum dulcamara, climbing
nightshade. No sign of either, except the area where I saw the S. dulcamara has
been burned. Too bad. Interesting purple flowers.
I found a couple of Geranium carolinianum, Carolina geranium in bloom. These seem to be
ahead of those on the west side of the pond, even though they are in shade much
of the day.
Geranium
carolinianum, Carolina
The large patch of native clover, Trifolium microcephalum, small
head clover, has no buds as yet … I didn’t find any
Trifolium
microcephalum, small head clover
I found a tiny plant I have not identified. I call it tiny
bottle brush, to distinguish it from a large bottle brush kind of plant that
comes on later. I’ve been looking for it whenever I walk this area. I may not
have seen it because it is smaller than I remembered it. The plant I
photographed is only about 3 inches tall.
Tiny bottle brush
I found a little patch of Gnaphalium paluste, marsh cudweed
by the pond. I see them in the mud flat on the other side. I haven’t seen them
here, before. They are very difficult to photograph.
Gnaphalium paluste,
marsh cudweed
I’ve been a little reluctant to come out to walk the
wildflowers because I seem to have sprained my bad knee. It feels swollen.
Actually I’ve been reluctant to stay home and take care of it. But it seems to
be pleased to be used. It’s not too happy to be completely straightened,
however.
Photography is not as much fun as it ought to be with the
dark monitor and a fairly steady wind with heavier gusts blowing my backing
sheet around and blowing my subjects away.
I picked a very small Sisymbrium altissimum, Jim Hill
mustard, that was in bloom to photograph even though I have already recorded
them. I like their blossoms. A bit later, on the north side of north pond I
noticed one in the shade of the pond’s tall grass that had broad leaves and a
thick stem, presumably because it developed in the shade. I picked another that
was more typical and photographed them together.
The sun is in the west and the wind is from the west. I sat
on a boulder with my back to the wind and sun to photograph the small S.
altissimum. I took a bunch of image in the shade and a bunch in direct sun.
Camera said 1/250 second in the shade and 1/2000 in the sun. [I forgot I had
the aperture wide open, 2.8f. I should have closed it down for a little better
depth of field.] The nice thing about that is that the ‘wind flutter’ of the
subjects shouldn’t matter much in direct sun.
Sisymbrium
altissimum, Jim Hill mustard
I attempted some cloud photos … without exiting the macro
setting. No apparent bleaching in the clouds. The some of the sky photos have
that unpleasant ‘lurid blue’ look, I don’t know why.
Clouds
I went down the north side of north pond looking for a patch
of Amsinckia lycopsoides, fiddleneck tarweed, and there it was.
I picked a Buglossoides arvense, corn gromwell, and a
familiar but unidentified species with a somewhat maple leaf look. Someone has
a row of stumps that are nice to sit on. I sat and photographed the three
species.
Amsinckia
lycopsoides, fiddleneck tarweed
I checked the mudflat on the west side of north pond. Lots
of the Geranium carolinianum, Carolina
geranium, Plagiobothrys scouleri, popcorn flower, Gnaphalium paluste, marsh
cudweed and Navarretia intertexta, pin cushion plant. I didn’t check for
blossoms and buds. I didn’t notice any.
West and south of north pond is a very small hillock with a
patch of Achillea millefolium, yarrow, in bloom.
Achillea millefolium,
yarrow
Plagiobothrys
scouleri, popcorn flower
Navarretia
intertexta, pin cushion plant
I checked the area near the Prunus virginiana where I see
Perideridia gairdneri, Gairdner’s yampa, later, for foliage. I didn’t see any.
5:41, sitting on a comfortable, moss covered rock finishing
up my photographing. I’ve had all the fun I can stand. I’m headed back for the
car.
There was quite a sprinkled patch of tiny white flowers I
couldn’t identify between the main trail and the elderberry. I don’t see any,
today. I hoped for better photographs. Perhaps obscured by tall grass. There is
tall grass everywhere because of the wet year. Not everywhere, where wet
persists.
A Philadelphus lewisii shrub in full bloom.
Philadelphus lewisii
I see some Chenopodium album, Lamb’s quarters
foliage. It won’t bloom for a long time.
Lots of white mushrooms because of recent rains. I think
they are called meadow mushrooms.
I’m ready for a nap but I really want to see if these camera
setting made a difference. [They did.]
Walking the north access trail, back toward my car I saw an
interesting grass head in fruit by a boulder so I sat on the boulder and
photographed it.
I was in the shade of the willow in north pond and the
afternoon light was weak but the camera was still claiming 1/640th
of a second. [It did need a little help with ‘levels’ when I processed it.]
Unidentified grass
Back at the car at 6:02. I still have the Arnica fulgens
photography to do.
Arnica fulgens
6:10, I’m ready to go home.
My bad leg held up very well. It feels fine.
6:22 at my parking place. I reversed route, down Northwest Boulevard
instead of going south on Ash. It seems to be a shade faster even with several
stop lights. No. The drive was a shade shorter because I started from the north
parking lot.
some spectacular pictures!
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