Spring in Texas

Spring in Texas typically brings two things: heat, and wildflowers.

Driving through rural Texas, you will be met with fields of Bluebonnets, rolling hills covered in Indian Paintbrush, and all manner of other colorful flowers.

While I was late to the season, I did manage to capture some photos of the floral beauty of Texas. I tried out two lenses, the Fujifilm XF 80mm f/2.8 R LM OIS WR Macro and the Tamron 18-300mm f/3.5-6.3 Di III-A VC VXD.

Since I didn’t get out to shoot until late in spring, I knew I wasn’t going to be able to capture the traditional shots of the sprawling fields full of flowers. Instead, I decided to go the macro route and focus in close on the individual specimens I was able to find.

I also played around with a couple different editing styles. The majority of the time I used Fujifilm’s “Velvia” simulation as a base in Capture One, and tweaked from there. Since Velvia is heavily saturated, I figured it would be a good match for the subject matter.

I’m not entirely sure what this plant was, but I loved the pink blossoms.

These yellow flowers are everywhere in Texas, and since they’re so common, I tried to get an angle you don’t normally see. Unfortunately, the underside was a bit dirty.

Here is the same flower from a different angle. I think I was a little shaky with my macro lens here.

Next up is the state flower, the bluebonnet. I wish I had picked off whatever that fuzz is.

This is one of my personal favorite flowers, the Indian Paintbrush.

While I don’t suppose thistles count as “wildflowers” I wanted to play around with capturing the spiny weed from different angles.

Here it is from above. It reminds me of a fractal.

Finally, I will cheat a bit and use a picture of a Salvia plant I found growing in a local garden.