Bloodroot

Bloodroot, April 9, 2005
This is a hand-held shot of bloodroot, using my Nikon D-70 and my 24-85 zoom lens. The lens has a macro setting, which allows me to focus on a subject that is rather close.
I was taking a nature walk on this day, and not planning to do any serious photography, but I was glad that I could hold the camera steady enough to get a pretty good shot. I prefer to use my tripod when photographing wildflowers, but sometimes when the tripod is unavailable I still want to give it a try.
One problem with this image is that the sun was shining a bit brightly, as can be seen from the obvious shadows behind each flower. With bright sun on a white flower, it is difficult to show the texture of the petal because the brightest areas of the petal often get "blown out" or overexposed. Due to the bright lighting, the contrast between the white petals and the background is a bit higher than I would like it to be. Still, I like this photo and enjoy looking at.
Bloodroot gets its common name from the fact that its root (and stem) contains a sap that is an orangey-red, like the color of blood. But you don't have to damage the plant to see it. All you need to do is look closely at a back-lit leaf. The veins themselves appear somewhat orangey-red as they show through the green surface of the leaf.
I plan to get some really good photos of bloodroot posted on this website one of these days. It is a cool plant and I have some nice slides showing various stages of its growth, as well as various closeups of the leaves and petals.
One of the best bloodroot photographs I've ever seen is posted on the Rod Planck Photography website in his GALLERY section called PLANTS. This LINK will take you directly to the PLANT GALLERY page, but you will need to click "view more plant photographs > >" one time to reach the page that shows bloodroot. Rod's bloodroot image is in the top row, in the middle. It is a vertical closeup showing two bloodroot flowers in opposite corners of the frame. Rod's work on that image is an example of great lighting and great composition!