It is trillium time once again; our provincial flower is blooming with abandon: that is if you know where to look. I have learned to look along the shadowy, forested edges of some of our rural roads. The spot that I have returned to for several years is not a great spot, and I will go elsewhere next year, should I want to photograph trilliums again. In truth my best trillium photos were taken years ago at another spot. Maybe I should have quit while I was ahead.
However, I found myself back to this recent spot yet again regardless and I also found myself regretting my choice almost immediately. The trilliums are some distance off the road, and I can only get to them with a telephoto lens, which is not ideal. On the east side of the dirt road, it is scrubby and the flowers lie in a dip. On the west side of the road the vegetation is closer to forest, and the ground slopes upward over there.
Here ↓ I look down on a patch down the eastern dip. These flowers are perhaps 15' away. I took a photo just to show you the mass of blooms in just part of the whole patch and also how it would be difficult to get close to them down the slope and through the bramble, even an able-bodied person.
So, I look for individual blooms that I can pick out from the crowd. This ↓ one was about 8' away from the road and also several feet down the incline. I zoomed in a lot but still had to crop in to isolate on this flower. Even though it was my first time out this season, the flowers have already peaked, but they are still in pretty good shape.
On the western side of the road, I found some flowers way in the background near a tree trunk. They were back a long way, maybe 20', but I took the photo as best I could. The blotchy area to the top left is just a leaf that was close to the lens and, therefore, out of focus. I don't mind it for an internet image, but I sure wouldn't print it. Still, I like it well enough.
So that's my trillium outing for 2024. To repeat: I will not return to this patch again; the conditions are too difficult, and I don't get the very best photos, although with much editing these two photos turned out not too badly.
Nevertheless, it was an outing that has become a tradition for me in the last decade or more, and I am glad that I made the effort
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After finishing the post, I had a thought and wondered if AI could substitute over that bright patch. Here is what it did.
I think it is a pretty impressive outcome. As much as I might have tried to fix it by conventional methods, I don’t think that I could have come remotely close to doing this well. In point of fact, I would not have tried.
14 comments:
AI did well. You won’t hear me say that often, not soon anyway. I love the single trillium, AC!
Great captures, and more of value for your efforts (as explained) and decision to not attempt that patch of trilliums again. I'm quite amazed and take my hat off to AI for that final fix. It did well, this time. Watch it though...don't let it take over your talented life!
Well, if it's any consolation, your trillium shoot went better than mine -- which was basically non-existent because I missed them this year. The close up is quite nice!
Yes, the AI patch is pretty impressive. But AI will never photograph with love, the way you do.
My fav patch has small blossoms this year. And yes, they are peaking early. Maybe that means that the blackflies will do the same. JG just came in from fetching the newspapers to report that they are rampant, and joined by mosquitos. Ah, the glorious 24th weekend. Bugs galore.
Even if it is also early this year.
I think the second photo is first rate and the AI adjusted turned out really well. I have a woodland on my property that I have never been in. Thirty years and never entered!
That's a beautiful patch and the close up does justice to the flower
I appreciated your description of your thought processes and the effort you made to get these photos. Like you, I watch closely for the first trillium blooms. I will never get over the thrill of seeing them.
The trilliums are lovely, I miss seeing them in person, and appreciate the effort. AI, hm not too shabby.
It is good to see that they are flourishing there. I haven't been anywhere to see any this year.
The shots are quite dreamy in a way. Love that tone.
We are all glad you made the trek! I often think about the photos I take of flowers that I see all the time. I do try to hang on the very best photos and kind of let the others go after I've shared them. So I relate to your thoughts about the same subject. Always shooting for that excellent shot. Have a great weekend! Aloha!
I am not sure I had ever heard of trillium before. You got some great shots of the individual flowers. You picture is better than the AI version.
That last photo is lovely--your creative mind at work! I'm not very familiar with trilliums.
I love trilliums and think you have captured them well over the years.
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