Overnight Rain and Late Spring Blooms

[AlanLichty]

I wandered out yesterday to do a little pruning in the garden and decided to grab my camera for a few shots first once I saw the raindrops from an overnight sprinkle.

Lily of the Valley - not quite in full bloom yet:

Red Trillium:

Cornus canadensis, Creeping Dogwood:

C&C always welcome.

 

[Alex Vasile]

I love the richness of the greens.

Really cool that you can see the water droplets on the underside of the leaves in the Lilly of the Valley photo.

 

[AlanLichty]

I love the richness of the greens.

Really cool that you can see the water droplets on the underside of the leaves in the Lilly of the Valley photo.

Thanks Alex - the droplets on the Lily of the Valley was what prompted me to go back inside and grab my camera. I love it when the droplets are illuminated like this.

 

[KevinA]

Excellent shots Alan, I really like the leaves in all of these, great architectural plants.

 

[Alex Vasile]

Thanks Alex - the droplets on the Lili of the Valley was what prompted me to go back inside and grab my camera. I love it when the droplets are illuminated like this.

I stared at the image for a second before realizing that some of those circles were droplets behind the leaves. Very cool.

I’m a little biased, but the leaves on trillium were my least favorite. I wish they had the same deep colors as the other two. Did you use a polar filter for these to get those intense colors?

The rendering is beautiful, the smoothness of the out of focus areas and the transition regions really work with the mood of the image.

 

[AlanLichty]

Excellent shots Alan, I really like the leaves in all of these, great architectural plants.

Thanks Kevin - these plants have pretty much owned the beds along the north side of our house for over 20 years now and are pretty easy maintenance.

 

[AlanLichty]

I stared at the image for a second before realizing that some of those circles were droplets behind the leaves. Very cool.

I’m a little biased, but the leaves on trillium were my least favorite. I wish they had the same deep colors as the other two. Did you use a polar filter for these to get those intense colors?

The rendering is beautiful, the smoothness of the out of focus areas and the transition regions really work with the mood of the image.

Thanks for the followup Alex. No filters on any of these images - they are handheld with a Canon 5D MkIV using an EF100-400mm f/4.5-5.6L lens set for 1/25th @f/8.0. Morning light on the north side of our house gives mostly indirect light which helps saturation on the greens. The trillium leaves are less of an intense green than the Lily of the Valley and the dogwood in real life and I made no effort to make them match since they don't out in the garden anyway.

 

[ProCaliberTraveler]

Your garden is terrific, Alan. Do you or your wife have the green thumb?

 

[Ben Egbert]

Love this Alan I am not sure we ever have water droplets that remain without dust streaks

 

[AlanLichty]

Your garden is terrific, Alan. Do you or your wife have the green thumb?

Thanks Michael - my wife planted most of our garden since she got to retire when we first moved up to the NW 25 years ago. I am doing a lot more now but both of us had a lot of experience with the effort of keeping plants alive in Utah. Up here the biggest problem up here is beating back the stuff you don't want

 

[AlanLichty]

Love this Alan I am not sure we ever have water droplets that remain without dust streaks

Thanks Ben - I do recall that phenomena from gardening in Utah.

 

[IainGFoulds]

… Beautiful. All three have a clear, main subject with supporting subjects against the green contexts. Subtle, well balanced compositions.

 

[Jameel Hyder]

Nice set Alan, very lovely blooms.

 

[AlanLichty]

… Beautiful. All three have a clear, main subject with supporting subjects against the green contexts. Subtle, well balanced compositions.

Many thanks Iain - all three were cropped to the compositions I presented in these images.

Nice set Alan, very lovely blooms.

Thanks Jameel - always nice to see blooms after a long gray winter like we just had.

 

[JimFox]

Awesome Alan. There isn't much that can best rain drops on leaves and flowers.

 

[AlanLichty]

Awesome Alan. There isn't much that can best rain drops on leaves and flowers.

Thanks Jim - an easy target up here right now since we have been pretty wet for the past couple of months

 

[Eric Gofreed]

your flowers are so beautiful, you're tempting me to photograph them, Alan

 

[AlanLichty]

your flowers are so beautiful, you're tempting me to photograph them, Alan

Thanks Eric - gardens up here are radically different from what you have down in the desert. Our biggest problem right now is that it's too muddy to do much work. I use a 100-400mm lens for these so I can stand in a dry spot to shoot them

 

[Eric Gofreed]

Thanks Eric - gardens up here are radically different from what you have down in the desert. Our biggest problem right now is that it's too muddy to do much work. I use a 100-400mm lens for these so I can stand in a dry spot to shoot them

I sometimes use my phone or my 200 to 600 for flowers and bugs... I'm usually looking for birds

 

[Douglas Sherman]

Beautiful images, Alan. I can almost smell the lily-of-the-valley about to bloom. I love he trillium and the bunchberry plants.