April 20, 2020 – West Desert Wandering – Samsung cell phone
The last time I traveled out to the West Desert I noticed that Glacier Lilies were just beginning to bloom so yesterday I headed back armed with my Nikkor 28-105mm macro lens to photograph the lilies. I haven’t used the macro lens in probably 14 to 15 years. Prior to becoming obsessed with bird photography I photographed flowers, bees, damselflies, dragonflies and other insects quite often and the macro lens came in quite handy at times.
Glacier Lily in bloom – Nikon D810, f11, 1/500, ISO 800, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 18-200mm macro at 200mm, natural light
When I located the blooming Glacier Lilies I parked my Jeep and took a few photos with my Nikon D810 with my Nikkor 18-200mm lens attached to get a feel for the light. Some of the Glacier Lilies were in bright morning light and some were in the shadows created by the trees. Once I got a feel for the light I attached the Nikkor 28-105mm macro lens to my Nikon D810 and photographed the bright yellow wildflowers.
Blooming Glacier Lily – Also known as Yellow Avalanche Lily – Nikon D810, f11, 1/320, ISO 800, -1.3 EV, Nikkor 28-105mm macro at 105mm, natural light
Photographing the Glacier Lilies was challenging because my Nikkor 28-105mm macro lens does not have vibration reduction and my regular tripod is set up for my bird photography gear. Hand holding and photographing the lilies was more difficult than I remembered and I botched quite a few of the photos due to operator camera shake.
Oh well. If I photograph more wildflowers with this set up in the future I am going to need to get a mini tripod setup just for wildflowers!
I also couldn’t find the lens hood for the Nikkor 28-105mm macro lens and I need to find out where I put that to help with the light.
Blooming Glacier Lily – Erythronium grandiflorum – Nikon D810, f11, 1/640, ISO 800, -1.0 EV, Nikkor 28-105mm macro at 105mm, natural light
Glacier Lilies (Erythronium grandiflorum) are also known as Yellow Avalanche Lily, Dogtooth Fawn Lily, and Dogtooth Violet. These wildflowers will often start to bloom when there is still snow on the ground in their habitat in Western North America. More information on Glacier Lilies can be found here.
Glacier Lily blooms are small, only 1 1/2 to 2 inches, so when viewing these images on a desktop computer the flowers in the photos are actually larger than life.
I enjoyed my journey to photograph the Glacier Lilies yesterday, it was quiet, peaceful and very relaxing. No news, no negativity, and not thinking about what a mess our world is in helped me to de-stress. I really hated to head home.
I did photograph some birds yesterday and I’ll share them tomorrow, there is a story behind each of them. I felt that these wildflowers deserved to shine in the spotlight today.
Life is good. Stay safe.
Mia
Click here to see more of my flower, shrub and tree photos.
Nice to see the flowers. Glad you gave the actual size. A larger version blooms where old homes used to be in the South. I was actually glad to go to the dentist today just to escape the house! Be safe.
Hi! I so loved the photo’s remind me of What grew in Michigan When I was small! Thanks for sharing Honey! mom
So pretty, Mia, kissed by the sun.
Soooo much better (and more beautiful) than the news.
Many, many thanks.
Lovely, lovely, lovely. I’m not familiar with Glacier Lilies; they remind me of fuchsias, though. 🙂
They are a pretty flower to see in the spring.
These turned out beautiful.
Hand-held or not, these are gorgeous blooms beautifully photographed!
Thank you for sharing and making my day a lot more pleasant.
Beautiful flowers.
One question if I may, Why did you not use the Nikon D500? Because the D810 is a 36,3 MP full-frame and has a better dynamic range?
Jorge, I used the D810 to photograph the Glacier Lilies because I wanted the D500 with the 500mm VR lens ready in case birds or other animals came in while I was photographing the lilies. I was only steps away from my Jeep so I knew I could grab it and fire away.
Glacier Lilies are very much like our Trout Lilies in Ontario (called Fawn Lilies as well) except that our leaves have brown blotches on them. Wonderful photos.
Yay Glacier Lillies! A life flower! So pretty.