Aspen Nature Loop Wildflowers
An overcast day really made the Western Sneezeweed and Larkspur (Delphinium) stand out on the Aspen Nature Loop. I added a little soft focus.
Posts from the ‘Flora’ Category
Aug 15
Aug 14
Police-car Moth
I saw several of these moths on our recent Flagstaff trip and I thought they were butterflies because they were flitting about during daylight which isn’t typical of moths. It wasn’t until I saw their antennae that I knew. If you’re under 50, you might not understand their descriptive name…Police-car Moth… but if you watch old movies or TV shows from the 50s, you might know 🙂
Aug 13
Pine White
Yesterday I posted a shot of a White that had me puzzled because of the orange markings. As it turned out, that coloration identifies the female of the species. Today, I’m posting a shot of the male Pine White. He’s enjoying nectar from a Cutleaf Coneflower.
Aug 12
White Butterfly
I captured this White butterfly on the Shultz Tank trail. A gorgeous but extremely difficult butterfly to photograph. They won’t sit still! Thanks to Tom H for the identity. It’s a Pine White. That’s what I thought but the orange edging confused me. I found out today that the female has orange. Thanks to my Cazba(.org) friends!
Aug 9
Doubting Mariposa Lily
A couple of my Flagstaff friends had identified this as a Sego Lily but because of deeper color in the center and the elevation where we saw it, I didn’t think so. We put our heads together with some experts on higher elevation plants and found out I was right to question it. It is a Doubting Mariposa Lily as I thought. Cool 🙂
Aug 8
Cutleaf Coneflower Art
I’m hoping to find Cutleaf Coneflower in bloom on our upcoming road trip to Flagstaff. This photo was taken on the Schultz Pass trail last year about this time. The background was pretty boring so I played it up by adding various textures. It made a fun print!
Aug 7
Pickin’ Time
It’s an especially good year for Prickly Pear fruit! They look so yummy that I took my friend Alice’s advice and put some in the freezer. Now to check out some recipes. There’s so much more you can do than just that jellied Prickly Pear Candy 🙂
Droid shot of Prickly Pear Fruit during a recent morning walk
Aug 6
Rocky Mountain Iris
When I photographed this scene, it was glaringly bright so I knew it wouldn’t make a good print. But the flowers were wonderful so I shot anyway figuring I’d have a good memory of it. I also had in mind playing with the image in various creative software with hopes I could rescue it. Topaz Simplify did a great job toning down extreme hightlights. I adjusted just to the point where the super bright highlights disappeared. I then applied Nik Glamour Glow to soften even more and bump up the color. Still not great so I decided to try Dynamic Auto Painter on it. I love this software because it allows you to save your creation as layers for future work. Voila! Fun process 🙂
