Wildflowers

Tue Mar 19, 2024 7:00 pm

Some of the first spring flowers of the forest - and it starts with a bang. We have fabulous bluebells here, the best I've seen for a long while, and they are heralded by the wood anemones. Just the first hints of blue starting to come through all the white

Tue Mar 19, 2024 8:18 pm

Lovely dreamy images Liz.

Bluebells already?!!

Wed Mar 20, 2024 12:17 am

Wasn't going to take any shots today but nicer weather and a new tripod changed my mind.

Forget Me Nots

Anemone Blanda

More Forget Me Nots

Wed Mar 20, 2024 3:56 am

Stunning!

Wed Mar 20, 2024 7:43 am

Gorgeous shots!

LunarSea wrote:

Bluebells already?!!

It does feel early, doesn't it? We're a little more south than the most southern point of the UK but not much. Spring seems to come a couple of weeks earlier, though. The early leafing trees - silver birch, hornbeam, wild cherry - are starting to turn green, ferns are popping up and the first flowers are attracting insects. The most glorious time of year.

Thu Mar 21, 2024 6:08 pm

I love forget me nots, mine are not in flower yet. I love that little star in the middle, so cute.

Sun Mar 24, 2024 5:15 pm

Coltsfoot

Honorary flowers - it's a bit early to start a seed head thread!

Mon Mar 25, 2024 7:48 pm

Euphorbia amygdaloides in the forest

It always feels like 'when is a flower not a flower'.

Mon Mar 25, 2024 8:59 pm

Lovely images as always Liz.

Belated apologies for putting my garden plants in this thread earlier. Old age is the best excuse I can come up with.

Wed Mar 27, 2024 3:37 pm

Wild stawberry (Fragaria vesca)

Lesser celendine (Ficaria verna)

Oddly similar names!

Sun Mar 31, 2024 2:21 pm

Spring is really hitting its stride here - the weather is glorious today and there are flowers appearing everywhere. I'll try and get out with the camera soon but for now, just one little one

Cardamine pratensis, or the cuckoo flower. Next stop cuckoos!

Sun Mar 31, 2024 4:00 pm

Liz, your photos are making me cry today.

Sun Mar 31, 2024 4:11 pm

But I don't want to make you cry!!!

Sun Mar 31, 2024 4:12 pm

It's a good thing! I'm touched by the beauty. You can put it down to hormones, if you want. Lol.

Happy Easter!

Sat Apr 06, 2024 7:26 pm

A few of a favourite of mine - Geranium robertianum, or herb-Robert

And a little daisy

Sun Apr 07, 2024 4:26 pm

Lamium galeobdolon, Yellow archangel from me too

Fri Apr 19, 2024 11:49 am

Among other things, yesterday was yellow day. I'm sure there is a reason why yellow flowers are so hard to photograph. Whatever the light, the detail is hard to bring out. These are all processed in RAW to increase darks. The flowers themselves are better but there is no softness, and the backgrounds have ended up very dark, even black.

Not really me, are they?

Sat Apr 20, 2024 12:02 am

Liz wrote:Among other things, yesterday was yellow day. I'm sure there is a reason why yellow flowers are so hard to photograph. Whatever the light, the detail is hard to bring out. These are all processed in RAW to increase darks. The flowers themselves are better but there is no softness, and the backgrounds have ended up very dark, even black.

Not really me, are they?

I think they look really good, especially the second image. But I like a bit of contrast anyway. I'm almost tempted to think you've used a smaller aperture on a couple of them?

Sat Apr 20, 2024 12:06 pm

I agree, the 2nd is most successful.

They are all shot at f/2.8 - especially in the forest or, in this case, on the sides of tracks, one of the main problems is messy backgrounds. My default is f/2.8 to try and counter this. The cowslips are both blends of 2 shots - I have manually layered 2 shots with slightly different focus to give a bit more range in the foreground flowers. Especially post all the Kate saga Rolling Eyes

I hope it doesn't show too much, but then I'm not a royal so hopefully the press and trolls won't catch me.

I have tried a free stacking and it was awful, it distorted the colours and the results were worse than I could do by hand. But that's what you get for free, I guess, and there may be better ones now as well.

Sat Apr 20, 2024 5:06 pm

Not the best photos in the world but this was difficult to get at all. I think it's dwarf milkwort (Polygala amarlla), which I've not seen or even heard of before. At least I believe it is that, as it's on a chalky slope it seems more likely than P. vulgaris, and it is tiny. I though they were tiny bluebells at first glance, the colour is almost the same, but a proper look and it's clearly not.