Silvan
April 6th, 2005, 02:33 AM
I've been trying to get a decent shot of these since sometime in the '90s, and I've always come home with crap until today.
:flowers: :boing: :flowers: :bouncysmi
These are a clump of blue/purple (depending on the light) hepatica flowers, and a closeup of a bloodroot flower. The hepatica is reduced, while the bloodroot is a small subset of a much larger image. I found the venation in the petals disappeared as soon as I reduced it the slightest bit, so I left it at 600 dpi or whatever and just cropped off everything else to achieve a similar result. (Look at the veins in those bloodroot petals! :boing: I've never captured such detail before. These things always come out as vague white shapes with no detail.)
The hepatica is the bravest hereabouts. The white ones emerge first, sometimes as early as late January. This year there wasn't much of anything in flower three weeks ago. It took three weeks before I had a decent day and an opportunity to get back.
I packed up the kids and my favorite dog, and we went to see what was up. Hepatica was up in spades. Buckets of it everywhere, and the blueish purpleish ones are in full force now. Add to that bloodroot just everywhere, cutleafed toothworts thinking about blooming here and there, and the mayapple/mandrake leaves thinking seriously about poking up.
Won't be much longer until the redbuds bloom, and then the trillium, jack-in-the-pulpit, yellow and violet violets, and sundry smaller bit players will follow suit. Then the canopy with clothe itself once more in a glorious tapestry of green, and everything below will settle down for a long summer of light deprivation.
:rant: I think it's a real pity more people aren't aware of this going on around them. That particular wood is now host to a frisbee golf course. Ten thousand college students trample through there every day, and I'll bet not three of them ever notice these things on their way to hurl some stupid plastic disc at a metal basket. (Leaving their beer bottles, water bottles, and other trash in the wake of stomped flowers to boot. :flamer: )
We had an interesting lesson in the circle of life too. Not depicted, but... Three weeks ago, I came across a dead fox. Cause of death unknown. I had actually never seen a fox before, so it was interesting to get a good look at one in real life (or, well, real death.) We returned to the site today, expecting to find a putrid mess, and instead we found a tail, a scattering of fur, and a completely bare skull. I'm very impressed at how quickly the decomposers did their work. I wouldn't have thought an animal could be processed this thoroughly in so short a time. Especially not considering the relatively cold weather we've had more on than off these last weeks.
Well, anyway, lookit my floooooowers. Aren't they preeeeeeety?!
:flowers: :boing: :dancy: :flowers:
:flowers: :boing: :flowers: :bouncysmi
These are a clump of blue/purple (depending on the light) hepatica flowers, and a closeup of a bloodroot flower. The hepatica is reduced, while the bloodroot is a small subset of a much larger image. I found the venation in the petals disappeared as soon as I reduced it the slightest bit, so I left it at 600 dpi or whatever and just cropped off everything else to achieve a similar result. (Look at the veins in those bloodroot petals! :boing: I've never captured such detail before. These things always come out as vague white shapes with no detail.)
The hepatica is the bravest hereabouts. The white ones emerge first, sometimes as early as late January. This year there wasn't much of anything in flower three weeks ago. It took three weeks before I had a decent day and an opportunity to get back.
I packed up the kids and my favorite dog, and we went to see what was up. Hepatica was up in spades. Buckets of it everywhere, and the blueish purpleish ones are in full force now. Add to that bloodroot just everywhere, cutleafed toothworts thinking about blooming here and there, and the mayapple/mandrake leaves thinking seriously about poking up.
Won't be much longer until the redbuds bloom, and then the trillium, jack-in-the-pulpit, yellow and violet violets, and sundry smaller bit players will follow suit. Then the canopy with clothe itself once more in a glorious tapestry of green, and everything below will settle down for a long summer of light deprivation.
:rant: I think it's a real pity more people aren't aware of this going on around them. That particular wood is now host to a frisbee golf course. Ten thousand college students trample through there every day, and I'll bet not three of them ever notice these things on their way to hurl some stupid plastic disc at a metal basket. (Leaving their beer bottles, water bottles, and other trash in the wake of stomped flowers to boot. :flamer: )
We had an interesting lesson in the circle of life too. Not depicted, but... Three weeks ago, I came across a dead fox. Cause of death unknown. I had actually never seen a fox before, so it was interesting to get a good look at one in real life (or, well, real death.) We returned to the site today, expecting to find a putrid mess, and instead we found a tail, a scattering of fur, and a completely bare skull. I'm very impressed at how quickly the decomposers did their work. I wouldn't have thought an animal could be processed this thoroughly in so short a time. Especially not considering the relatively cold weather we've had more on than off these last weeks.
Well, anyway, lookit my floooooowers. Aren't they preeeeeeety?!
:flowers: :boing: :dancy: :flowers: