Bluebonnet Bouquet of Photos

Bluebonnet season has come and gone. It was not a good year for the stereotypical Texas bluebonnet photos... you know, the field of bluebonnets, a deep blue sky, some clouds, and an adorable toddler or two. I have not had much luck with that kind of photo shoot. No picturesque fields, no handy toddlers are available when I have been ready to go shoot. So, my bluebonnet shots are typically tight and close up, focusing on light and something called bokeh, which is a fancy photographic bit of jargon that just means artistic background blur. 

Here are a few of my favorites from last year, back when we had rain, you know. This first one pairs up the bluebonnet with a few common white daisies and a scattering of other wildflowers in the background. Gotta have good bokeh, right?

I experiment a lot with light, too. I use natural light almost exclusively. No flash for me.

Also, I tend to take shots of the same subject, and change the shutter speed quite a bit. The soft, bright light is nice, but there is a drama that comes into the finished work when the shutter is very fast, making the background almost black.

It seems that I have the best results when I use early morning light hitting the blooms. Here, you can see the dew drops still hanging on the petals and leaves.

All in all, photography is a more than just pointing a camera and snapping the shutter shut. I hope you enjoy this little bouquet of spring flowers, featuring the beautiful blue Texas bluebonnet.