I went on another summer afternoon hike at my favorite wildlife refuge, I didn’t have a particular plan other than to shoot some photos even if they weren’t good. The wildlife refuge is very dry this time of year, the wildflowers are gone, the creek isn’t flowing, and there are few people out there. I hiked past a group taking family pictures and had the rest of the park to myself.
The grasses and spent wildflowers were all fading yellow from the rainless summer but I think they still catch the late afternoon light in a nice way. The challenge in photographing them is that they look the best when viewed from directly opposite the low hanging sun. This means that you are shooting directly into the sunlight and even if the sun is not in the frame, the light on the lens still tends to wash out the image. To deal with this, I used a long focal length and zoomed in with the lens hood hopefully shading the glass from direct sunlight. I picked out a distant prickly pear surrounded by the spent wildflowers, got down really low, and worked on that for a composition. My result below.
The fringes of the fuzzy spent wildflowers catch a lot of sunlight and create a nice pattern, I think. The cactus is really just there to give you something to look at in the pattern. I added a radial vignette mask around the image to slightly reduce exposure and de-clarify so that attention is drawn in toward the center of the image. I think the photo conveys the feeling of a dry, late summer afternoon. What do you think?
I wandered around waiting for the sun to get lower. There were a lot of high clouds and I thought it might get pretty, but I could eventually see some heavier clouds on the horizon and knew that sunset would be a dud. But eventually the sun peeked through a gap in the clouds before being hidden for good and I targeted a lifeless tree on the edge of the ridge looking west for a silhouette photo. My goal here was to have all of the tree’s branches against the sky and the entire landscape nothing but a silhouette. I shot the sun on the edge of the tree to try to get a little bit of a sun-star. My silhouette is below.
I like the silhouette as it is almost an abstract photo. I think that with the sun still in the sky it does look a bit unnatural and the effect might be better during twilight when the sky is a deeper blue. So, I also made a version in which I didn’t darken the landscape and maybe I like it better. The sun-star is nicer and you can see a little texture in the tree. The non-darkened version is below. What do you think?
And lastly, just a little heart-shaped cactus. Thanks for reading.
Jason Frels 
Beautiful pictures, Jason!
I love the heart-shaped cactus, but the silhouette is my favorite!
It is extremely dry here as well, I am amazed how well you manage to capture the beauty of nature regardless of that!
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Thanks, I guess I better learn to appreciate dry if I am going to live around here.
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Dry colors get very monotone after a while but you start to appreciate the plant life that is able to survive desert like conditions! Lol
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My front yard can best be described as undead at this point. I try to obey the city water restrictions.
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Ours is yellow and crunches underfoot…
Our dugout is sorely hurting the water is down quite a lot so, we have been relying on what little rain we have received. We could use more!
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The narrow depth-of-field works well on the first one. I realize that aside from drawing my attention toward the prickly heart, it works to move my mind into the imaginary space beyond the top of the frame. I probably prefer the silhouetted tree for the same reason. Very “Japanese” I suppose, to fill an empty space with something imagined, or merely felt… “ma” ( 間 ).
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I like the silhouette as well but the lack of detail was bothering me too much. I particularly wanted to see the texture of the tree, and its rough dry bark.
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I like the silhouette best, as it conveys a peaceful, twilight feeling. The heart-shaped cactus reminds me what a thorny time that Valentine’s Day can be. I have to be very careful when choosing the greeting card for my wife.
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To my darling wife, together we indeed make a prickly pair. Be my valentine. XXOOXXOO.
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Good one. That sentiment should penetrate deep.
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😶🤚! Your poor wife!
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I LOVE the way the “spent wildflowers” glowed in the silhouette of the cactus in the first picture. I really liked that one.
Of the two tree and sunset pictures, I guess I prefer the one that has the most definition (the second one) but I honestly like both of them.
Thanks for the heart shaped cactus for a closer :).
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Thanks, I am glad that you also see the beauty in the spent wildflowers (for lack of a better term).
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Am a big fan of silhouette anytime but especially during this transition time of year where the light begins to morph into such golden hues.
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What a nice surprise to end the day. Silhouettes are great, and heart shaped things always appeal to my sentimental heart, but the wildflowers photo I love! At first glance and before reading, I thought it was hundreds of fireflies. Beautiful.
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