Boom, Spring Is Here

Posted on by MC2 · Leave a comment

The image above is a closeup of the very bottom of a Dutchman’s Breeches flower, which I was able to capture using a Nikon 200mm Macro lens.

It never ceases to impress me how quickly the switch flips once nature decides the time has arrived to begin the spring bloom. It may take a while to arrive in NW Indiana, but when it does it is always pretty awesome. The Heron Rookery trail in the IDNP always puts on a great display of wildflowers at this time of year. The trail itself is unremarkable as it simply runs in a straight line alongside the Little Calumet River for about a mile and half. But it is situated in a floodplain with nutrient rich soil that the wild flowers love. In addition to the river the surrounding area holds a lot of standing water, which the mosquitos really love. They have not come out in force yet, but soon this trail will be swarming with the little buggers.

Here are just a few of the photographs which I collected while out on the trail.
As always, just click on any image to see it full size.

White is a dominant color early in the spring bloom. Most of the wild flowers on this particular day were white. Dutchman’s Breeches, False Rue Anemone, Blood Root and Trillium galore. My understanding is white and yellow flowers predominate in the early spring because the early pollenators are flies, which color blind and so they identify flowers by contrast and brightness. Bees and other pollenenators use color to find flowers.
White wild flowers in direct sun are very difficult to photograph without blowing out the highlights. I find that letting the camera set the exposure typically leads to a lack of detail in the bright white areas. This is one example where switching to manual exposure and intentionally under exposing the image allows me to preserve detail in the pedals of the flowers.
Of course not all of the wild flowers are white. There are more than enough blues, yellows and reds to spice up the landscape.

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