Elegant Paintbrush, Marsh Fork, Canning River, Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, Alaska. Canon 5D Mark II, 100-400mm f/5.6L IS (275mm), 500D Close up filter, 1/200 sec@ f/8, ISO 100
I mentioned my trip into the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in a recent post, and I have a few more photos to share from that journey. In a land that exhibits dramatic and distant vistas, it is not surprising to find compelling subjects close at hand as well. While hiking along the Marsh Fork of the Canning river, the elegant paintbrush was a very common wildflower present, and a beautifully colored and textured one at that. Because I was traveling light while backpacking, I chose to leave my 100 f/2.8 macro lens behind. As an alternative, I took the Canon 500D close up filter which is a magnifying glass filter that screws onto the outside of a lens. While there is a slight loss in quality, it is pretty minimal and easily worth the trade in weight for this kind of travel. The 100-400 lens offers versatile framing functionality for the tedious composition often intrinsic to macro work. I chose 1/200 sec. exposure due to a slight breeze that was blowing along the river bar, and it therefore captured a sharp image. The medium depth of field for macro adds enough eye focus control, but lets the main blossom be interpretable. Selecting a position that renders a fairly clean background can be a challenge, but the pink distant flowers work well in this picture. I used a tiny gitzo tripod with an RSS mini ballhead.
