Look, But Don’t Touch!

A couple of days ago, I had another, early morning kayak outing at a local Missouri Conservation Area. As I unloaded the kayak and prepared to enter the water, I had to stop for a moment and capture the beautiful sky developing around me as sunrise neared. Now I didn’t come prepared, so had to shoot in pre-sunrise conditions without a tripod … not the way to go. Here is an image of what the area looked like as I prepared to launch into the waters (Note: don’t adjust your monitor … I was unable to handhold steadily at 1/5 second for a crystal clear shot, but I just wanted to show how beautiful it was on that foggy, early morning!):

Pre-sunrise over the lake

Kayaking around the lake, I came upon several noteworthy photo subjects. One of them is a wildflower that I hadn’t seen for quite a while, the Spotted Touch-me-not (Impatiens capensis), also known as Jewelweed:

Spotted Touch-me-not Wildflowers

Spotted Touch-me-not Wildflowers

Spotted Touch-me-not Wildflowers

These plants can grow to 5-feet tall. As I researched this plant, I found that the fruit, a slender capsule, when drying or touched, contracts, coils, and splits explosively, causing the seeds to be cast far away, in all directions. I also read that it is widely believed that rubbing leaves and stems of this plant on the skin will prevent and even cure a poison ivy infection, as well as taking the sting out of stinging nettle. Interesting!

Photographic Equipment Used (Pre-sunrise):

  • Canon 7D Mark 2 body
  • Canon 100-400mm, f/4.5-5.6 IS lens
  • Handheld from the shore, with IS “On”
  • ISO 800
  • Aperture f/4.5
  • Shutter 1/5 sec.

 

Photographic Equipment Used (Spotted Touch-me-nots):

  • Canon 7D Mark 2 body
  • Canon 100-400mm, f/4.5-5.6 IS lens
  • Handheld from a kayak, with IS “On”
  • ISO 2000
  • Aperture f/5.6
  • Shutter 1/125 sec. to 1/250 sec.

 

 

Posted in Nature Photography, Photography from a kayak, Wildflowers
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