Steve Foss
08-11-2008, 01:52 PM
I am enamored of black spruce/sphagnum bogs up here at the edge of the boreal forest. Among the variety of environments found at the southern edge of the Canadian Shield, they are easily my favorite. pH below 5 makes them very acidic, and a spruce tree a few inches thick might be 100 years old because of slow growth/acidic environment. Leatherleaf, laurel, rosemary, Labrador tea, spruce, tamarack and several types of orchids are only some of the plants that thrive here. I could spend a year simply trying to capture the many residents, moods and weathers of such a bog. (Hmmmm, sounds like a project!) :D
This is an image of the carnivorous pitcher plant, which sends up a flower that doesn't look too much like a flower. The longer I photograph wildflowers, the more I want to capture environment, and the way these spruces seemed to point to heaven with wide angle, the better I felt about the image.
Just as a point of fact, I was laying on my back in the sphagnum as the water flowed in around me, with the flower "bloom" just a foot above my head, and with my the back of my head mushed down into the sphagnum. The water was 4 inches deep and deepening when the elements all came together and I could make this image. A few seconds later the water would have started coming in my ears, and who knows how far the acid burn might have eaten into my brain? http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/smileys/icon_eek.gif http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/smileys/icon_eek.gif http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/smileys/icon_eek.gif
This is not at all a typical look at a flora image, and I'm interested to see if this works for any of you. Thanks in advance for looking and commenting.
Canon 5D, Canon 17-40 f4L at 17mm, iso200, 1/25 at f16, handheld, gold reflector disk added fill underneath to match color temp of sun on spruces.
This is an image of the carnivorous pitcher plant, which sends up a flower that doesn't look too much like a flower. The longer I photograph wildflowers, the more I want to capture environment, and the way these spruces seemed to point to heaven with wide angle, the better I felt about the image.
Just as a point of fact, I was laying on my back in the sphagnum as the water flowed in around me, with the flower "bloom" just a foot above my head, and with my the back of my head mushed down into the sphagnum. The water was 4 inches deep and deepening when the elements all came together and I could make this image. A few seconds later the water would have started coming in my ears, and who knows how far the acid burn might have eaten into my brain? http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/smileys/icon_eek.gif http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/smileys/icon_eek.gif http://www.naturephotographers.net/imagecritique/smileys/icon_eek.gif
This is not at all a typical look at a flora image, and I'm interested to see if this works for any of you. Thanks in advance for looking and commenting.
Canon 5D, Canon 17-40 f4L at 17mm, iso200, 1/25 at f16, handheld, gold reflector disk added fill underneath to match color temp of sun on spruces.