Skagit Valley Tulip Festival

[NorthernFocus]

The Skagit River Valley about 60 miles north of Seattle is incredibly rich farmland. Someone figured out that it is a good area to grow tulips and for the past thirty some years they've had a spring tulip festival. My bride wanted to get out of town for a couple of days and I was eager to try out a couple of new landscape lenses, so we spent last weekend there. Some of you have seen the thread about my breaking my D7100 but before doing so I did get in one day of shooting. You'd think it would be easy to walk up to fields full of hundreds of thousands of flowers and walk away with some decent photos. But it's harder than it looks. At least for me it is. Here are a few attempts.

Nikon D7100 w/Sigma 17-50mm f2.8 DC lens, handheld

1. It was threatening rain. Poor light for the flowers but made for interesting sky.


2.


3.


Nikon D7100 w/Nikkor 28mm f1.8

4. For round 2 I tried out a new Nikon 28mm prime. The sun was peeking through the clouds once and a while by then.


5.


6.

[Donald]

You'd think it would be easy to walk up to fields full of hundreds of thousands of flowers and walk away with some decent photos. But it's harder than it looks.

Ah, but when you've got the skill and the 'eye' to 'see' good compositions, then you end up with great pictures. These are superb, Dan. You've used colour, lines and shapes beautifully to create images that capture and hold attention.

[dje]

Dan I agree with what Donald said, very well done. I do agree though that it is harder than expected to capture the majesty of fields of flowers.

Dave

[IzzieK]

Beautiful, Dan -- superb shots! I bet they are hard to photograph...Good job. These will make a good backdrop for a station's tv screen (a la Grahame's rainbow shot...)

[Shadowman]

Nice captures.

[Mike Buckley]

I agree with the others that you did well. I imagine that one of the inherent difficulties is that the terrain is flat; if there were rolling hills, you would be able to position yourself so nothing but plants would fill the frame. The other difficulty has to do with the issue that you apparently had to shoot down the rows of plants most of the time, capturing the dirt, rather than shooting across the rows, which makes it easier to select a perspective that eliminates the dirt.

[FrankMi]

Another great series Dan! The first image, in particular, captures the essence and flow of the colors across the fields and has enough background detail to complete the scene without competing with it.

If you were to perk up the sky, just a bit more like it is in the third image, I believe the sun rays showing through the clouds would also add to the scene.

[Brownbear]

Sorry to hear that you broke your camera (:

All beautiful, but I especially adore #1 & #3

[Stinky]

Great thread. I especially like #2 and #3.

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks everyone for the comments.

...If you were to perk up the sky, just a bit more like it is in the third image, I believe the sun rays showing through the clouds would also add to the scene.

I went back and added a second mask to that portion of the sky and it did make a big difference. But for some reason it barely shows up when uploaded to CIC. The reworked version is the first one here. If you click back and forth in the lightbox they look slightly different but nothing like they do on my computer in LR.

[Scouse]

It is harder than it looks, I know, I have a big file of them shot from around that same place.
Nicely done.

[NorthernFocus]

I agree with the others that you did well. I imagine that one of the inherent difficulties is that the terrain is flat; if there were rolling hills, you would be able to position yourself so nothing but plants would fill the frame. The other difficulty has to do with the issue that you apparently had to shoot down the rows of plants most of the time, capturing the dirt, rather than shooting across the rows, which makes it easier to select a perspective that eliminates the dirt.

Yes Mike the dirt was maddening. I found that when shooting down the rows with a really wide lens the dirt was really prominent. Shooting with a 17-50 (APS-C format) I found myself shooting mostly at 30mm or above. The next day I planned to come back and shoot with my long lens but broke my camera that morning. I also tried getting low but then the layers of color disappeared. Also when shooting directly perpendicular to the rows sometimes the flowers appear much thinner on the ground in the foreground. As I said, it's harder than one would think. Here are a couple of shots more across rows though not at a right angle.

[Brownbear]

Just to say... Absolutely gorgeous!

Yes Mike the dirt was maddening. I found that when shooting down the rows with a really wide lens the dirt was really prominent. Shooting with a 17-50 (APS-C format) I found myself shooting mostly at 30mm or above. The next day I planned to come back and shoot with my long lens but broke my camera that morning. I also tried getting low but then the layers of color disappeared. Also when shooting directly perpendicular to the rows sometimes the flowers appear much thinner on the ground in the foreground. As I said, it's harder than one would think. Here are a couple of shots more across rows though not at a right angle.

[Mike Buckley]

The last two are my favorites by far. Very well done!

By the way, I imagine a ladder would be extremely helpful in this situation. The taller, the better.

[FrankMi]

I went back and added a second mask to that portion of the sky and it did make a big difference. But for some reason it barely shows up when uploaded to CIC. The reworked version is the first one here. If you click back and forth in the lightbox they look slightly different but nothing like they do on my computer in LR.

Yup! When you have an image this good, it is wise to keep the changes subtle.

[bnnrcn]

Superb images, thanks for sharing Dan

[NorthernFocus]

Thanks, folks. It is a beautiful place to shoot. Christina you should get down there. Seemed like one out of every five cars we saw had BC plates.

The last two are my favorites by far. Very well done!

By the way, I imagine a ladder would be extremely helpful in this situation. The taller, the better.

Mike, when I shot those fields a few years ago I shot almost exclusively "endless fields of flowers" type shots with no horizon or other BG elements. This time I wanted to try some of each. Elevating the perspective is good to a point but get too high and you start to make the ground show through more. There is an optimum angle to show the expanse, the layers of different colors, but still hide the ground so the shot looks like solid flowers. I think getting up a bit and using a longer lens is optimum for the full field shots. 70-200 equiv. is probably the optimum lens for this subject. I had an 80-400 with me in hopes of shooting some birds too. I just broke the camera before I could test my theory

[Brownbear]

Thank you Dan. I looked up the Skagit valley. It looks like a beautiful place that I would love to visit but I don't have a car so it is hard to get to some places.

I have added the Skagit Valley as a place to visit next year. Appreciated.

[Marie Hass]

Seems like a beautiful place to be. Sometimes I miss being near rich cultural areas.

Your shots are elegant and joyful.

Marie

[kaneohebud]

Hey Dan:
Nice work. I know the spot well for I lived on Whidbey Island for five years. Love the spring color there. Finding sunshine is another matter.