Dilworth Mountain Park, Kelowna - The arrowleaf balsamroot flowers are blooming!

The yellow arrowleaf balsamroot flowers will peak next week.  Now is the time to see them.

I have written on the arrowleaf balsamroot plant before (click here).  Also known as Okanagan sunflowers, these plants have just started to bloom.  One of the best views of them that I have found so far is from atop Dilworth Mountain at the park just above the local golf course.  They dot the plateau but are especially picturesque at the far end, away from the parking lot.

I am going back again next week.  The bulk of them should be on full display.  I shot the pictures with my Z7ii Nikon camera, but I will bring a tripod with me.  I used hyperfocal focusing to get everything in focus, which worked most of the time.  Some of my images are a little soft for near-distance objects though, so I will also have to use manual focusing.

The neat thing about manual focusing with a mirrorless camera is that you get a blue shimmering halo around everything that is in focus at any given aperture, even though you can't see it through the viewfinder.  There are ways to mitigate this through shoot-and-view techniques, but this is somewhat frustrating in the field, especially on a bright day.  Any, yes, you can view the images through the EVF, but it just isn't the same, and there are better things to do with my time when I am out exploring.

I think the ticket will be tripod, manual focusing, and some patience.  I could always employ focus stacking - however, I should be able to get the shots I want without this technique.

Thanks for reading.

Eric Svendsen     www.ericspix.com
 

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