Fern Fiddlehead, Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve, Wells Maine

It is the season of fiddleheads. There were two big baskets of them at the local grocery this week, and they are everywhere you go in the woods of Southern Maine. I found this one growing along a little steam at the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve at Laudholm Farms in Wells, Maine. I have probably taken several hundred shots of fiddleheads over the years, and I know for a fact that I have taken at least a dozen this year…but this one is special. I knew it would be as soon as I saw that the fiddlehead was silhouetted against the dark shadowed water of the stream. It has a studio look…as though I set up the background and controlled the lighting…but is a natural background and just the light of the morning sun. I did use Program Shift on the camera to increase the depth of field…to keep the foreground leaflets in focus while the hairs on the stem are still sharp…necessary at the longer focal length needed to frame the fiddlehead from the little bridge across the stream. 

Sony Rx10iii at 600mm equivalent. f9 @ 1/160th @ ISO 100. Processed in Polarr.