Some like it HOT!

[Steve Foss]

A mixture of cool and warm colors today. We had a sharp 3/4 inch rain this morning, and that sent me up the Echo Trail with cameras in tow.

All with the Canon 5D, Canon 400 f5.6L, Canon 70-200 f2.8L, Canon 17-40 4L and Canon 100 f2.8 macro. Guess it's up to you to guess which is which. ISO ranged from 50 to 800.

Yellow coneflowers (a prairie species) are not at all common in the boreal forest. They have been profuse this season along a couple roadsides because of strong rains in May and June. These are the last of them up here, and the warm background is from maple saplings and hazelnuts.

Here's one for you XT! Gotta get a bird in there or you aren't interested. Got an ID for me? Darn, those fall warblers can be confusing.

Big reach for bergamot

Lake Jeanette paddlers

Lake Jeanette fishermen

Such clouds

The storm gathers

The storm moves east

[Early Riser]

Nice day and storm pics. I especially like the muted colors on the last shot.

[polarsusd81]

Steve, that last shot is amazing. The rest are awesome as well but that last one takes the cake. I can see what you were saying by not having enough Uumph with the 1.6 crop, would have been nowhere near the same. I'll make it up there one of these days.

[mmeyer]

Steve, you've really outdone yourself on some of these. Wow, I mean WOW! The mushroom(which I'm surprised you didn't identify ) and the last shot are really really nice.

Thanks for sharing.

[Canon Guy]

Those are great. The last one is awesome!

[Catmendo]

Good ones Steve!

[finnbay]

Very nicely done! Really like the cloud shots! I saw some of those while I was shooting the football game and snapped a couple, but they didn't turn out near as well as these!

[micpic]

I see why you live there. Nice shots!

Mic

[jonny_redhorse]

All nice!....those billowing clouds are striking!and the mushroom image(love those mushroom images )

[MN Shutterbug]

Gee Steve, thanks for thinking of me. I have to admit, I am a bit biased. However, I am interested in other types of photos too, just not to the point that they capture my attention like birds do. That warbler shot is outstanding. It's got a nice clean bg, but not to the point where it looks like a BOS shot. You're asking me for an ID? That's a good one. Seriously, these are all nice shots. I also love the last shot. I've never attempted cloud shots due to the fact that I feel the shot should include some environment to make it special, as your shot does.

[Dbl]

Excellent work Mr. Foss! That last shot as mentioned is a standout.

[JohnK]

I really like the Lake Jeanette paddlers shot, that looks like a great place to laze around in a canoe.

I had to look it up on a map to see where it is, definitely looks like a great place. Can you really drive right up to the lake like it looks on the map?

[mcary]

Steve,

All are very nice, but I love those first three. The coneflowers are fantastic! What's the fall color forecast up there? I'm heading out on a BWCA trip on the weekend of Oct. 3rd from the Moose Lake put-in. I'm hoping the leaves will be near peak when we're there.

[Steve Foss]

Thanks so much everyone.

John, the road goes right past the lake in two spots. Really great for afternoon/evening light right from the road. Across the road from the lake is the Astrid Lake Trail, which is a big loop taking you past several lakes. Just a short walk in on that trail is one of the finest black spruce bogs anywhere in northeastern Minnesota.

Mike, the younger stressed maples along roads are peaking up here right now, and will still be great next weekend. The golds of aspen and birch are not yet at peak, with some individual trees starting to turn but no expanses. I think it'll be somewhere between next weekend and the first weekend in Oct. when they peak, and there'll probably still be some tardy maples offering reds then, too.

X, my thought was it's a pine warbler but I still haven't looked it up. Been going nuts with photo stuff three days in a row, with more to come tomorrow and Tuesday. I'll rest in October.

[buzzsaw]

That last one would be a nice HDR canidate to get the details in the shadows. Very nice!