Low to the Ground with Fill Flash 
With beautiful puffy white clouds in the skies, intermittent sunshine, and fresh daffodils growing everywhere, I headed to Squalicum Harbor in Bellingham, Wash.
Nice Bokeh and Shallow Depth of Field: Cropped Version of the Last Image
As I was driving past the harbor a few days ago, I saw them growing alongside the trail. However, the day was gray and cloudy and has been since. A typical Pacific Northwest spring. Today, the gray made way for blue. Since I’ve wanted to at least get a shot, I drove down there and to my surprise, plenty more were growing.
Squalicum Harbor Boats 
The first few shots I used my 80-200 at f/4 on my D300s to get shallow depth of field. This to show a hint of the boats in the background. They were OK, but not what I wanted. So I set up my tripod, placed my 17-35 on the camera, used my B+W ND64 (6 stop) neutral density filter, and stacked that with my polarizing filter. I used the ND to get a longer shutter speed and the Polarizing filter to get deep blue sky to add contrast with the white clouds.
Using various shutter speeds, I played with the exposure. After a few shots, I added my SB800 Nikon flash using generic Best Deal radio triggers. I then removed the ND and used just the polarizing to keep the contrast in the sky. Then I laid low on the ground and shot up to the blooms to make them seem huge. To emphasize one of the blooms, I moved in close and shot wide open to narrow the depth of field.
Getting Low and Using Fill Flash 
A nice day to play with a little color and have some fun. And in typical Northwest fashion, the clouds roll back in and here comes the rain. The second image in this post is a cropped version of the one below. I’m debating which one I like better. Both have their merits. Which one do you like and why? Post your choice and reason below.
Full Frame version 
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Paul “pablo” Conrad
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Pablo Conrad Photography
Compositions of a Rambling PJ 
I could not love this blog more!!
Not only have you shot my 2 favorite things, daffodils and the bay, you made them look 100 times better than today really was!!
Your eye for beauty always leaves me in awe.
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Thank You Sweetpea!!!
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These are beautiful! I really like the 3rd image.
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Thank you Janice. Really appreciate the comments.
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Have you ever thought about creating an e-book or guest authoring on other
sites? I have a blog based upon on the same subjects you discuss and would love
to have you share some stories/information. I know my readers would enjoy your
work. If you are even remotely interested, feel free to
shoot me an email.
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Thank you LaRae.
Yes I have thought about an e-book. I was also a guest author on other blogs.
I think about writing for your and send you and email.
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