July is prime time for Colorado wildflowers. Despite the hot temperatures and recent drought conditions, wildflowers in the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado were in full bloom last week. I’m not a flower expert so don’t hold me to the identifications I’ve made below. I’m confident about the Columbine ID but less sure about the flowers in the second image. Please correct me if I’m wrong.
Colorado Wildflowers – Technique
Both shots were taken with the Canon 5D Mark II and EF16-35mm. Someday I’m gonna have to invest in a macro lens. In the mean time, the UWA lens will have to do. The second shot is actually a composite of two images; both shot at f/16 for maximum depth of field. With the first image, the focus point was on the clump of marsh marigolds in the lower left. The focus point of the second image was on the mountains in the background. I used the “auto-blend” function in CS5 to combine the two images based on content. It probably would have worked a little better had I used three images (foreground, middle ground, and background).
These examples were shot along C.R. 12 and F.S. 585 (4wd required – stock SUV will do just fine) near Silverton, CO.
Colorado Blue Columbine
Marsh Marigold, Rosy Paintbrush, and Alpine Avens