Skunk Cabbage, a photo from British Columbia, Western

Photographer's Note

Western Skunk Cabbage (Lysichiton americanus) blooms in the swamps of the Pacific Northwest for a brief period in the early spring.

Its great to catch them when the unusual flowers are fairly new. Over the summer these will grow huge leaves, some almost 1 meter across, then they start all over the next spring.

This was taken near Victoria, BC in Thetis Lake Park. The Victoria area hosts many "natural" parks close to downtown.

Please have a look at where I was - click on Map:View

Nobody has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

katrinh (585) 2011-03-27 13:32

Hello Dave,

I really like the foreground in your picture and I think to try a wide angle shot was a good idea. But the trees in the background seem to fall to the left and the water level does not seem horizontal-which is quite disturbing.
So I would, in this case, just crop the background and concentrate on the blooming plants in the foreground which show excellent sharpness and colour.

Best wishes,
Katrin.

Keitht (1342) 2011-03-27 14:11

Picking up on Katrin's comment about the trees in the background sloping to the left - She is of course correct but I suspect that if the background had been set to the correct angle, the foreground would have looked very odd instead. Even if the main flower head shouldn't be vertical I think that the overall image is improved by making it vertical. I also like the use of a comparatively wider aperture in order to throw the background slightly out of focus, but retaining enough detail to give context to the plants.

Photo Information

Copyright: Dave Renfroe (daveRen) (160)
Genre: Places
Medium: Color
Date Taken: 2011-03-18
Categories: Nature
Camera: Nikon D 90, Nikkor 16-85mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR AF-S DX, B+W 67 mm circular Polarize
Exposure: f/4.4, 1/60 seconds
Map: view
Photo Version: Original Version, Workshop
Date Submitted: 2011-03-27 11:04