So I woke up, at home, after 4 days in Virginia, and realized I did not have a pic for FloralFriday over on Google+. Out to the yard to see what is in bloom. This, I am pretty sure, is one of the apparently infinite Penstimons. It has been growing in our yard since we got there 17 years ago. My wife found one plant in the center of a unkempt garden plot out front, which was two the next year, and she started transplanting it around the yard. By now we have several stands of it.

For this shot I backed away from the plant about 10 feet and shot at 1240mm equivalent field of view. That is 150mm real focal length (plus 1.5x digital tel-extender) on the Canon SX40HS, and it gives a very nice bokeh, isolating the purples and the tight little green pearls of the flower spike against the mottled green of the out-of-focus flower patch behind.

Camera as above. Program with –1EV exposure compensation. f5.8 @ 1/200th @ ISO 500. Processed in Lightroom for intensity, clarity, and sharpness…and auto color temperature to offset the early open shade.