Monarch on Blazing Star

[rtbaum]

[Brownbear]

Wow! Absolutely gorgeous!

[deetheturk]

Lovely capture Randy!

[Suzan J]

Very beautiful. It was nice of him to sit still for you.

[Rita]

Beautiful.

[Kodiak]

This is a case where I would recommend a severe crop because the overwhelming
amount of information does not support the subject: a Monarch on Blazing Star!

The shot is, so far many have seen this, well done… it's just too much of everything
else! I would suggest this crop if I may:

[Shadowman]

Nicely captured.

[bnnrcn]

Very nice image, I like Kodiak's crop

[Stagecoach]

Good capture Randy.

I am going to go against some other opinion and suggest that the crop that Daniel (Kodiak) has done is too severe. My reasoning behind this is that it just becomes yet another butterfly image removing much of the interest from its habitat as we can see in your original. By cropping so much you are also going to lose IQ of the butterfly.

Personally I would undertake a less severe crop just removing the tall stalk on the right and a small amount on the left and some off the bottom to retain balance.

Grahame

[rtbaum]

Daniel- I like your crop very much

[rtbaum]

Susan- It wasn't very difficult to find a willing subject

[Kodiak]

Daniel- I like your crop very much

Thanks Randy… and you're welcomed!

[Nicks Pics]

The brightness of that image really stands out to me. I should look into a blazing star to see if that's the name of one of the flowers we see around this neck of the woods.

[rtbaum]

The brightness of that image really stands out to me. I should look into a blazing star to see if that's the name of one of the flowers we see around this neck of the woods.

Nick- You may find it in any area where prairie prevails.....alternatively, I suspect nurseries carry it as Liatris

[Nicks Pics]

Nick- You may find it in any area where prairie prevails.....alternatively, I suspect nurseries carry it as Liatris

Northern Mi is not the prairie, by any stretch, as you know , but there is some interesting black cherry savanna type landscape here, and I think (now that I look it up) that blazing star was indeed among the flowers in the bouquet brought back for my Mom the other day. Thanks for sharing the ID!

P.S. Do you have a favorite flower identification website or book? As photographers it is more impressive if you have a name for the subjects you shoot.

[rtbaum]

Nick-
My favorite book for flower ID is Newcomb's Guide to Wildflowers. That being said, I rarely rely on a field guide any more. I have been chasing prairie wildflowers for the last 30 years or so, thus very few are new to me any more. I suspect that you are on the right track to search amongst the interdunal zones. Search the Nature Conservancy for native prairie areas in your area.

I am curious about what city you are located.

[IzzieK]

Susan- It wasn't very difficult to find a willing subject

This shot looks like the front yard of my husband's best friend from Florida. She has a "butterfly garden". One day the two were left home for his wife and I do the shopping and was asked to help remove some weeds ... how some men do not know what weeds looks like! When we returned, no more butterflies, no more weeds, no more garden either! I guess they've achieved what they want -- for the wife to put a big poster in front of the garage : DON'T TOUCH MY GARDEN!" ... (I still believe the demolition was an accident as claimed...)

Anyway...good shot. Now, how about a selective colouring mode?

[Nicks Pics]

Nick-
My favorite book for flower ID is Newcomb's Guide to Wildflowers. That being said, I rarely rely on a field guide any more. I have been chasing prairie wildflowers for the last 30 years or so, thus very few are new to me any more. I suspect that you are on the right track to search amongst the interdunal zones. Search the Nature Conservancy for native prairie areas in your area.

I am curious about what city you are located.

Thanks for the ID book tip. These flowers were found in a sort of meadow-y landscape with grass, bracken, sweet fern and some trees near central Northern LP which is somewhat common in certain areas, and the DNR seems to be trying to keep it from going to all forest by burning it over. I don't recall finding these blazing stars anywhere else, and not till recently.

This shot looks like the front yard of my husband's best friend from Florida. She has a "butterfly garden". One day the two were left home for his wife and I do the shopping and was asked to help remove some weeds ... how some men do not know what weeds looks like! When we returned, no more butterflies, no more weeds, no more garden either! I guess they've achieved what they want -- for the wife to put a big poster in front of the garage : DON'T TOUCH MY GARDEN!" ... (I still believe the demolition was an accident as claimed...)

Anyway...good shot. Now, how about a selective colouring mode?

What "weed" isn't a wildflower when you pay attention?! That's why I don't like lawn mowers too well!