Spring poppies bloom in the Antelope Valley.
No wicked witch here to add a bit of danger, but the colors at the poppy reserve a couple of weeks ago were fantastic. The Antelope Valley California State Poppy Reserve blooms every spring in an explosion of wildflowers, mainly in the yellow, orange, and purple range. The orange ones are, of course, the state flower and Dorothy’s bane, the poppy.
There’s a fair amount of wind out there during the day, so unless you get out there real early, plan on using fast shutter speeds and Image Stabilization if you’ve got it. During the blooming season, there is a fair amount of traffic out there, and you’ll find it impossible to get shots without any people in them (again, unless you get out there early morning). However, in a lot of the ones I took, the people added a great sense of perspective and scale, so it really isn’t all a bad thing.
The flowers attract plenty of interesting insects and beautiful butterflies on the leeward sides of the hills, which means the birds that eat them are around too. Bring both a long and a short lens because of this. Landscapes traditionally call for wide angle, but this and every other shot on the roll are with my 70-300… its a matter of framing, and if course Image Stabilization is a bonus. The circular polarizer really makes those clouds pop against a darkened blue sky.
Only three uploaded for now, more on the way as I get them through the scanner and PSPXI for cropping, straightening, and some sharpening to compensate for my crappy scanner…. no saturation boost necessary for these colors! Superia is great at getting true warm colors anyway, so I hardly ever need any at all, unlike the XTi, which needs some fiddling in post-process.
Get out there fast, the blooms won’t last long!
Camera: Canon EOS Elan 7ne
Lens: Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
Film: Fujicolor Superia 200
(circular polarizer)
Antelope Valley California State Poppy Reserve
Lancaster, CA
Post a Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.