Sunflowers at Sunset - Woodland, California June 21, 2020

Turn your face to the sun and the shadows follow behind you

~Maori proverb

More social distancing with flowers!  This time in Woodland at three of many sunflower fields growing in Yolo County this time of year. I came to see some sunflowers but got sidetracked by a little bird watching place nearby that my co-worker Yvonne had told me about.  More on that in another post. :)

When I finally tore myself away from the Egrets and Herons and made my way to my planned location just a bit up I-5, it was getting dark and the sun had pretty much set.  But the sky was a beautiful orangey-pink, the mountains were blue, and the fields were bright with green and yellow. 

It's a bit late in the season and it's been HOT so a lot of the flowers were going to seed and starting to brown and droop.  But they were still a gorgeous sight to behold. 

I learned a little something from Reddit recently regarding the two different sunflowers seen in the photo below.  

The smaller, multi-clustered flowers (that we sometimes notice on the side of random roads here in California) are the male pollinators.  The tall, strong seed-bearing sunflowers are, of course, the females.  Girl power baby!

You know me and know I have to do a couple "stylized" photos every time.  :-)  To me, there is beauty in every stage of life.  Not always the stereotypical "beauty", but beauty none the less. 

This picture is similar to the first one, I know.  But I just loved the way some sunflowers have their heads held high to catch the last rays of the setting sun.  And this time I found three more closer to me!

More "style"! 

This is the backside of the sunset.  Pro tip:  After the sun has set (or risen), look to the opposite horizon to catch the last bit of the beautiful show of light and color!

Here is another example of the male and female flowers.  This farmer's field had a thick row of male flowers planted between every 10 or so rows of females.  

This is the opposite side of the road.  Strong and beautiful females tower over there male pollinators with the orange Western sky and beautiful trees in the background.  

And this is probably my favorite shot of the day so I saved it for last.  So gorgeous.

Such a peaceful and perfect way to end a Sunday night after a pretty stressful/anxiety-filled week/weekend.  

Till next time.  

xoxo

Sony A350

Note: all photos taken by Jeanette H. (author/photographer) at sunset/blue hour with handheld DSLR at 400 ISO (Sorry for any grainyness). I've learned that the used 300mm zoom lens I bought has a lot of chromatic aberration which sucks to a certain extent (especially with birds and wildlife) but isn't a deal breaker for non-pro photos.

From Spring to Summer Sun! Sunflowers in Yolo County! 7/1/16

In my last two posts, we traveled to San Francisco in Spring to visit Golden Gate Park which comes with copious flower sightings such as the Historic Japanese Tea Gardens  and the Queen Wilhelmina Tulips Gardens.

Now, fast forward four months to July and I was looking forward to a trip to Yolo County for an excursion to some of the many sunflower fields.  It's a foray that I'd been wanting to do for years and I was determined to go this year. 

I set out bright(ish) and early to try to capture the sunrise over a field of flowers.  I was only semi-successful.  I'm just teaching myself about filters so a lot of this was experimentation.  I was hoping for some clouds in the sky to add to the drama of my photos but there weren't any to be seen on this hot summer day. 

That hawk was very interested in seeing if I was looking for breakfast like he was.  He followed me around a couple fields and, at one point, was staring at me so intently that I thought maybe he might try to eat ME.  lol  I wish I had my zoom lenses since he was all but posing for me, but, alas, I hadn't brought them.

He finally flew off when he realized I was only interested in flowers that day.  The next group of pictures were all taken at the same field which is actually in the first picture.  I used various Neutral Density filters when I was facing the sun.  I decided from this experience that I need a gradient or graduated filter for this type of thing.  

 One thing I did really like about both the filters and the fisheye attachment that I used off and on, was the sun rays effects they produced.  

I love how the telephone pole looks like a floating cross on this blessed morning. 

One cool thing were the bees!  Soooo many bees!  Of course the farmers need bees, so they even hire out hives from beekeepers in order to make sure all these important crops are well-pollinated..  

And the bees weren't even worried about me.  So as long as I was careful to not get too close, they just went about their business.  :-)

This next photo was taken with my fisheye attachment.  Unfortunately, you get a serious black vignette from the attachment.  When you crop the photo to edit it out, you lose much of the fisheye effect.  It's still a cool lens to have in some instances and definitely allows you to capture a wider view, such as having the cool furrows visible in the picture below.

In the next photo, I was able to keep some of the fisheye effect.  The trick is to not fully zoom in on your primary subject.  Give yourself some room to crop.  Which works when you are taking a landscape-type photo. 

I love the varied faces of the bright sunflowers!

I moved on to my next field.  I was driving toward the Yolo County Airport in the hopes that I might see some Hot Air Balloons aloft.  However, there weren't any to be found.

I did find some fuzzy white balls that added a nice contrast against the sunflower fields. 

Have you ever looked at the back of a sunflower?  You really should!  Next time you buy one from a farmer's market, turn it around.  They are so intricate with loops and whorls.  And they're fuzzy! Beautiful coming or going. 

 Even the leafs are cool!

I took a couple of detours from sunflower fields because I found some amazing farms with some interesting sights that needed to be documented. 

In both of the next two photos, I used the fisheye attachment, which created some amazing sunbursts!  And I just loved the water from the sprinklers with the dark furrows and bright-green, young crops. 

And I used the wide-view to capture the lines of the poles and furrows as well as the wheels with the water. 

Across the street was an antique sign.  I couldn't get a photo that really captured it's charm though. 

Down the road was a field with a tractor in it that I thought would look cool with the fisheye and wide angle.  I was not wrong!

In the next field there was some beautiful wheat growing which I tried to capture with the sun behind it.  It turned out well, except I do wish I had a filter that fit the fisheye lens.  Again, it gave me a great sunburst effect. 

Even the weeds at this farm were beautiful!!

I had lots more adventures driving around Yolo, but this seems like a good place to pause for now. :-)

Until next time!

xoxo

Nikon D3300 w/18-55 lens, filters, and fisheye attachment