Desert Sunflowers (Gernaea canescens), March 4, 2008
Desert Sunflowers (Gernaea canescens), March 4, 2008
The Spring wildflower season is coming in Southern California. In Anza Borrego State Park they arrive as early as late February, and various species bloom into April as the bloom progresses up the adjacent mountains.
This is a field towards the northeast end of the town of Borrego Springs. When I visited last year, the field had been almost completely taken over by invasive Sahara mustard, but volunteers were pulling it up, plant by plant.
Wow, this is a fantastic image, Jeffrey... Love this...
ReplyDeleteThanks Rubén Val Shawn McClure and Denise Groom!
ReplyDeleteThis was shot at 100mm focal length at f/8. To get that much background blur at f/8 I place the subject at the closest focusing distance for the lens (for macro-like work it's often easiest to manually focus, then move my head and camera back and forth, closer and further from the subject until it's in the center of the depth of field). Since the depth of field will only be a couple of inches (if that), I'm careful to select subjects which are in the same plane (or better, in an arc the same distance from the lens).
Lovely feeling and a great photo, well done Jeffrey Sullivan !
ReplyDeleteLike! Thanks for the explanation of the how. Almost every year I tell myself I need to make a trip to the Antelope Valley Poppy Reserve during the poppy bloom and never do. This adds a little more motivation to get it done. And now I will have to add Anza Borrego State Park to the list of places to visit.
ReplyDeleteKevin Steele Do it! Antelope Valley was amazing last year: https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/dppXhaGvDI8a5eELswk4vVXtNoEWaSC-SolTwKlRBrY3C6fEBLxxjSp6x2Llxq0dq_6GCrunMWkIZi85MIzigMamGNRf-MQSsQQr=s0
ReplyDeletehttps://lh3.googleusercontent.com/qPLUDscpC3bF_Q9lWXysLc7NTR0UEIKVqISvU6V-Sk663hW3d2nYoH86XrBFGz7yAtMujEubY-gc5ymI_N9EJlILhfoypp1Rk-9l=s0
The Antelope Poppy Reserve however had virtually no wildflowers. Just look around the valley for huge patches of color, and drive over to them. I'll probably lead a wildflower workshop or photowalk out there this April.
Very lovely image!
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