The Original Marsh Mallow

The marsh mallow, or rose mallow as it is also known, is a very water tolerant plant. This photo was taken in early August when they are at the height of their bloom. I have mentioned before that this one, which is my favorite, grows out of a large tractor tire on the edge of the river. At high tide, it often sits in a foot or more of water which most plants would not be able to withstand. You can also see the needlerushes growing right along side of it. In the background is the dock I have been given permission to use by it's owner.

It was a foggy morning and I will usually turn to photographing other things if the bird activity is low, so I am assuming that was true on this day. Fog effectively reduces clutter in an image, allowing a subject to stand out. If there were no fog, you would be able to see the far shoreline, just faintly visible and it would undoubtedly be distracting. Bees and hummingbirds both love this plant for it's pollen. I'm surprised there are not at least a few bees buzzing around it.

I used a Singh Ray Gold and Blue Polarizer, one of the few filters that can be used on a digital camera that cannot be "faked" in photo editing software. It enhances both blue and yellow when they are present and it is why the water appears so blue. Since it is a polarizing filter, it also reduces reflections and deepens colors. It will almost always skew white balance, but that is easy enough to correct in a program such as Lightroom where photos can be tweaked. The filter is not cheap as filters go and they are type of filter that is threaded onto the front of the lens meaning it probably won't fit all your lens. So, you want to consider in advance which lens you most likely would be using it with. Mine fits a wide angle zoom lens, which allows me to use the filter over a range of focal lengths.