Steve Ingraham’s Point and Shoot Landscape

Lupine Bank

I first noticed that the lupine were in bloom on a rainy day drive from Kennebunk to Bar Harbor Maine. On both sides of I95 going north there were particularly lush stands of lupine. Of course, even if it had not been raining hard, it is not possible (or at least not wise) to pull over on I95 to photograph lupines.

The following day in and around Bar Harbor was sunny, and while out and about Mount Desert Island I kept my eye out for stands of lupine. I was looking for the proper background. The stand nearest our motel cabin was in an angle between two roads (typical place for lupine), and did not inspire. I saw some lovely stands along the rock shoreline of Somes Sound, but well back on private property and inaccessible. Then, coming back up the quiet (Southeast Harbor/Bass Head) side of the island after a bird walk at Seawall, I spotted this slope running up to the evergreens at the top, and thick with lupine. Not much traffic and a good wide verge, so off I went.

For scale, here is a shot of my daughter, who is about 5′4″, waist deep in the lupine (also with camera in hand).

Waist Deep in Lupine

And already, with these two contrasting shots, we being to learn the lesson of the lupine stand. Point of view can turn a single subject (lupine stand) into an amazing array of image opportunities.

As I have argued before in this space (Why take just one???) part of the wonderfulness of digital is that multiple points of view cost little but the second it takes to frame and press the shutter release.  You can take your time back home, at the computer, sorting  through the possibilities you saw and captured in the field for the ones that work best in the larger format of you monitor or a framing print. On the other hand, I am not one of those motor drive, sequential shooting guys who just holds the shutter release down and takes 5 shots of every framing. Never saw the point of motor drive unless shooting unpredictable action or candid human faces where the mouth and eyes, at least, are often in unpredictable motion.

My first instinct with this stand of lupines on the hill side against the evergreen background was a low angle, uphill shot. That vision is what pulled me off the road.  I flipped out the LCD screen and held the Sony DSC H50 low in the vegetation,  looking for a pleasing pattern. The first shot is the best of that bunch.

Next I turned side on to the slope at a long diagonal (similar to the shot with Anna above, which actually came at the end of my session with the lupine). I wanted to capture the mass of the display and keep the evergreens behind.

Along the Lupine Slope

I took several variations, but this one with the strong flower in the corner and the slope leading away is the one I decided to keep.

This daisy caught my eye, buried in the lupine, and I tried a shot around it.

Daisy among the Lupine

I am not completely happy with this as the white on the daisy burned out and I am not sure it is a strong enough focus for the image as a whole to work. Also the very blue lupines in the background distract from the effect I was looking for…so it goes. Sometimes what seems like a good idea in the field turns out, on reflection to be not so good after all.

But in the process of framing this shot, I was pulled in close and began to wonder if a tight detail shot might work. It is a challenge to balance detail of individual flowers with the effect of the massed spike of lupine.

Lupine Close In

This view, with the out of focus flower spike in the background works, I think, pretty well.

For the alternative view, which emphasizes the full mass of the flower spike, I shot down on spike so heavy it was bending under its own weight. This has the advantage of showing off the undeveloped blooms yet to open, which also provide some color relief from the massed blues.

Lupine Head

Along about now I though about compression to emphasize the mass of flowers. My H50 has a long zoom, so I used it, set aat about 200mm equivalent, shooting along the slope of the hill, to press a whole stretch of flowers into the same frame.

Compressed Lupines

I took about 10 shots at this zoom setting, framing different sections of flowers, with different mixes of colors and detail, to sort through later. Mind, I saw some possibility in each frame I shot. No waste, and not random at all. This is just the one, that on reflection, stands up the best.

So there you have it. A lupine inspired exercise in point of view. One subject, many ways of seeing it, many images. Which one do I like the best. I like them all. Each one here says something to me and captures a bit of what I saw. The more important question is which one do you like best? I’d be interested in hearing your opinions.

An even better question is will you remember this next time you are confronted with a similar situation. Shoot low. Shoot high. Shoot far. Shoot close. Use wide angle. Use macro. Use telephoto. Shoot all around your subject. It is part of the creative process. Continue the creative process when you get home to the computer, and make an image of every worthy frame. It is part of the wonder of digital.

We finish with an alternative low angle uphill shot, with a different mix of colors and stronger (maybe) center of focus.

Lupine Variety