Under a cloudy-bright sky I took a midday stroll along the Cap-Rouge River looking for Trout Lilies, aka Adder's tongue, American trout-lily, Dog's tooth violet, Serpent's Tongue, Yellow Adder's-tongue, Yellow fawn-lily, Yellow Snowdrop and, en français, Erythrone d'Amérique. They grow in moist soil, close to the ground and flower in early May. To photograph the downward-facing flowers, I made like a snake, mounted my Canon on a Gorillapod, turned on Live View and focused manually.I like the warm yellow petals and orange pistils contrasted against the intense green background.
Having contorted my neck observing the lilies, I wandered stream side looking to photograph another favourite subject, unfurling cinnamon ferns. Behind my back this mallard snoozed on a warm rock. Nonchalantly I approached and shot him: this time locking my Canon to a full-size Manfrotto tripod. I Live-viewed, focused manually and shot in RAW. I adjusted the white balance, added a little contrast and sharpened the cropped image.A very handsome duck wouldn't you agree?
