Tag Archives: blossom

Photographs: Coastal Redwoods, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Manroot Blossoms

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Manroot Blossoms
Manroot Blossoms

Manroot Blossoms. Muir Woods National Park, California. May 8, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Manroot flowers blossom in the redwood forest at Muir Woods National Monument, Caifornia.

I hope I have the right ID on this flower. I’m noted before that I’m no expert on these things – I often can’t identify by name flowers that I am very familiar with. As near as I can tell, this is a “manroot” flower, also known as Marah fabecus. I photographed it in the forest of Muir Woods along Redwood Creek, where the plant grows in a vinelike manner among other plants.

The flowers are striking in the shaded forest, and especially since they seem to grow against a background of darker plants. I used an extension tube to make this photograph, shooting very close to the small flowers.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 73mm with extension tubes
ISO 400, f/4, 1/15 second

keywords: manroot, cucumber, Marah fabeceus, plant, flower, wildflower, spring, season, flora, foliage, blossom, bloom, muir, woods, national, monument, golden, gate, recreation, area, marin, county, california, usa, north america, nature, scenic, travel, white, green, bud, branch, bokeh, redwood, grove, forest, shade, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

Larkspur Blossoms

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Larkspur Blossoms
Larkspur Blossoms

Larkspur Blossoms. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 20, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Spring larkspur flowers against a soft background of sunlit spring greenery, Almaden Quicksilver Park, California.

I made this photograph back in early April as spring flowers were just starting to really blossom in my favorite flower-filled gully at the Almaden Quicksilver Park near San Jose, California. The larkspur flowers often blossom early and pass quickly through their prime phase, and seem to be pretty delicate flowers to begin with – so I was glad to get there at the right time to photograph these specimens.

I photographed them against a background of grasses with the scene lit by sunlight filtered through high clouds. Using the maximum aperture of f/4 on the 24-105mm zoom (with an extension tube) made for very narrow depth of field and allowed me to throw almost everything in the frame other than the central flower out of focus.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM with extension tubes at 105mm
ISO 400, f/4, 1/250 second

keywords: larkspur, flower, plant, flora, foliage, wildflower, bloom, blossom, stem, branch, leaf, bokeh, blur, soft, background, purple, green, nature, san jose, santa clara, county, park, almaden, quicksilver, california, usa, north america, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

White Globe Lilies and Grasses

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Chinese Lanterns and Grasses
White Globe Lilies and Grasses

White Globe Lilies and Grasses. Almaden Quicksilver Park, California. April 10, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

Macro photograph of White globe lily flower and buds and spring grasses – Almaden Quicksliver Park, California.

This is one more photograph of the white globe lily flower I posted recently, this one in landscape mode rather than portrait mode. This is one of the first of the seasonal bloom of this flower along a favorite trail of mine at the Almaden Quicksilver County Park – the location of historic mercury mines along the edge of Santa Clara Valley. I photograph these flowers every April, and this photograph is from my first visit of the year.

Some of the challenges in making this shot included the need to use an extension tube and get very close – perhaps just a couple inches from the flower. Since this specimen grew on a steep bit of hillside I shot it handheld and used manual focus – I essentially picked a decent focus point and composition and then carefully moved forward and backward until the important parts of the flower were in focus. (The narrow DOF at this close distance made the zone of focus very small.)

By the middle of April there will probably be hundreds of these flowers in this small valley.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM at 73mm with extension tube
ISO 400, f/8, 1/100 second

keywords: chinese lantern, flower, bloom, blossom, bud, wildflower, plant, leaf, grass, seed, stem, branch, blur, bokeh, green, white, pink, spring, season, almaden, quicksilver, county, park, santa clara, san jose, california, usa, north america, nature, close up, macro, foliage, flora, stock

Photographs: Central California, Photographs: Nature, Photographs: Northern California

White Globe Lily Flower and Grasses

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Chinese Lantern Flower and Grasses
White Globe Lily Flower and Grasses

White Globe Lily and Grasses. Almaden Quicksilver County Park, California. April 10, 2010. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.

A spring white globe lily flower blossoms among the seeds of new grass, Almaden Quicksilver County Park, California.

I’m posting this as a brief interlude in the steady stream of photographs from my late March visit to Death Valley. This photograph was obviously not made in Death Valley. (Yes, there are flowers there. No, not this one!)

Weather frustrated some of my photographic plans on the day that I made this photograph, so late in the day I decided to at least head out briefly and try to photograph some of the spring wildflowers that are blooming right now at one of my favorite local parks. There is a small valley not far from a trailhead at Almaden Quicksilver County Park that I know very well – I photograph there every spring when many, many wildflowers appear. For this little adventure I decided to go very light, taking only a camera body, one extension tube, and a 24-105mm zoom lens and planning to shoot hand held.

The sun was out when I left my home, but within five minutes it started raining! I was starting to think that photography just wasn’t going to be in the cards at all on this day, but I decided to keep driving anyway. The rain increased. The clouds above the hills where I was headed looked quite dark. But as I got closer I saw that this little shower was going to pass over and head to the east, and when I arrived there was broken sun.

I quickly walked to the small valley mentioned above, noticing the wonderfully green foliage in this area that is brown and dry during most of the year. As I started down the trail into the Valley I had a pretty good idea of what flowers to expect and where to look for them, since I know this spot very well. Thinking that it was still a bit early for these white globe lily flowers to be out, I looked for the plants instead, thinking that I’d be able to return later when the flowers were in bloom. But lower in the canyon I was surprised to find some of the flowers were already out and in bloom, including this specimen growing in a grassy area.

This photograph is not in the public domain and may not be used on websites, blogs, or in other media without advance permission from G Dan Mitchell.

G Dan Mitchell Photography | Twitter | Friendfeed | Facebook | Facebook Fan Page | Email

Technical Data:
Canon EOS 5D Mark II
Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 L IS USM (with extension tube) at 70mm
ISO 400, f/8, 1/100 second

keywords: chinese, lantern, flower, bud, blossom, bloom, plant, nature, grass, green, growth, new, leaf, san jose, santa clara, county, california, usa, north america, spring, white, almaden, quicksilver, park, stock