Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage 2014 Day 4

Last week we attended the Spring Wildflower Pilgrimage 2014. Here are my notes from Day 4.
 
I decided that instead of writing a list of all the plants we saw, I would put them in a spreadsheet and then write the location and notes beside them. This would help me see the big picture instead just a list of a plants and things. You can download the spreadsheet HERE.

Here is the link to Day 4 Pictures HERE.

On Day 4, we began our day with a photography class with Jack Carman and Robert Hutson. We attended this last year and it was so wonderful that we wanted to come back again. In the afternoon we took a Fern Walk with Keith Bowman and saw a ton of ferns!

Things I learned:
1. Landscape – f/22, maximum depth of focus (DOF)
2. Need foreground, mid ground, and background to be interesting.
3. Center of interest needs to be sharp in focus.
4. Fast shutter = 1/500 shutter speed.
5. 1/25 stops motion of water
6. Normal camera settings read as 18% gray. Open up a stop or two so snow appears white.
7. Rules of thirds - put center of interest on intersection
8. Sunrise and sunset – use manual setting; take reading without the sun, then note settings. Turn on manual and set camera to those settings.
9. Be at sunrise 30 minutes before for maximum color conditions.
10. Spider web and dew drops – minimum DOF so no distractions in background.
11. Eyes drawn to white spot on image.
12. Mushrooms – ensure light is on the stems or they look like they are floating on air
13. Put sun at your ack.
14. Wide angle – if aimed slightly upward, causes keystoining
15. Get on level with the flower
16. Individual flowers – at an angle produces more depth
17. Competing centers of interest is hard to look at.
18. Have odd numbers of flowers; small or large groups.
19. With large groups, leave some dead space.
20. Diffused light – use white umbrella
21. Use tripod for stability and DOF
22. Use stick and clothespin for holding something in the wind.
23. Ebony spleenwort has a dark shiny rachis
24. Rattlesnake fern is triangular in structure and dies back in the winter.
25. Grape fern is leathery and evergreen.
26. Rock cap looks like Christmas fern but attacked all over.
27. Walking fern looks like it walks because the tip grows roots and forms a new plant.
28. Hayscented Fern – hairy all over leaves, pinna looks like little steps perpendicular to the rib.
29. Daisy Leaf Moonwart looks like a runty rattlesnake fern.
30. Silvery Glad fern form in clumps and have square pinnules.

Original Photo by Pat Hensley