Indian Paintbrush

Paintbrush Reflections
Image 00842, date 2007

Years ago, I saw my first image of water drops refracting a background flower, probably in Outdoor Photographer magazine. I was fascinated, and began the pursuit of my own water drop reflection photos…

Occasionally, I am asked if the photos are real or if I created them in the computer. Signs of the times, I guess. These are 100% “real.” The water drops are from dew, occasionally rain, and the reflected image (“refracted”, actually) is just as I saw it.

This morning was bright, sunny, and humid at Cherokee Prairie Natural Area, but with a slight breeze, so I needed to keep the shutter speed up and still shoot at f/16. However, the photo was dark – very underexposed. I either misread the meter’s suggestion or ignored it, or the camera erred, and underexposed the image. The problem probably was not the camera. So, I adjusted exposure and made another photo, then moved on to another composition.

Later, in post-processing, when I looked on the computer, that second photo was blurred – that pesky breeze. My first thought was that I had blown the shot; one was blurry, and the other was underexposed. And, I had only made 2 photos…

original image, unedited

I opened the first image, the dark one, in PaintShop Pro and increased overall exposure of the RAW file by two stops. It was amazing – the Sony .ARW image was beautiful! It held up really well to being lightened. (For comparison, I tried the same adjustment on the camera’s jpeg version, and it was not pretty…) I have always shot RAW ever since.

Over the years, I have made a good number of water drop photos like this, but “Paintbrush Reflections” is still one of my favorites. Just the same, I look forward to wildflower season, and more attempts to make the perfect image.

May we all continue to look for great light!

Each spring, I look forward to visiting Cherokee Prairie, an Arkansas Natural Heritage Site. There are a number of pieces of land in Arkansas similar to this; allowed to grow naturally, with only foot traffic allowed.
This spring, I’ve been able to make several visits to the Prairie, and here’s some of what I’ve seen – and photographed.
Among the first wildflowers to bloom is Indian Paintbrush. I visited once and they were just beginning to show color; a later visit and the Prairie was nearly covered with the colorful red flowers.

Indian Paintbrush (Castilleja coccinea), Cherokee Prairie, near Charleston, Arkansas

Then, in the midst of the red flowers was this yellow version.

A yellow version of Indian Paintbrush

Here’s another image (my favorite) of the same yellow flower, juxtaposed with the red ones in the background.

Yellow Indian Paintbrush, Cherokee Prairie near Charleston, AR

Next, a few weeks later, the Purple Coneflowers covered the Prairie:

Purple Coneflowers (Echinacea purpurea), Cherokee Prairie, Charleston, Arkansas

Purple Coneflower framed by Doll’s Daisy, Cherokee Prairie, Charleston, Arkansas

Large patch of Purple Coneflowers, Cherokee Prairie, Charleston, Arkansas

There are other wildflowers there; these are some of my favorites.

And, the visitor can also see some other “flying flowers”, such as this Eastern Tailed-Blue. This was a first for me, and I appreciate our friend, Anne Sayers, helping identify it…

Eastern Tailed-Blue, Cherokee Prairie, Charleston, Arkansas

These images were all made with the Sony Alpha77, a Minolta 100mm macro lens and, more recently, a Tamron 180mm macro lens, Manfrotto tripod and Really Right Stuff ball head. And, all the water drops were there before I was… 🙂

Millican Photography

Photography by Larry & Gayle Millican

This Photo, #2

Paintbrush Reflections
Image 00842, date 2007

Cherokee Prairie

Paintbrush Reflections Image 00842, date 2007

Paintbrush Reflections
Image 00842, date 2007