Sturt’s Desert Pea – Wilcannia to White Cliffs

About 30 kilometres north of Wilcannia we came upon a large area of Sturt’s Desert Peas. What a great photographic opportunity!

In pristine condition, the rain and wind of recent days hadn’t knocked them around and they were at their peak. Some pods could be seen and new blooms, just opening, were common.

Luck was with us and we found a couple of white Sturt’s Desert Peas.

Down on my knees and elbows wasn’t too bad, but when I got down on my belly, the spiky burrs got into my clothes. Ah well!

In order to present the Sturt’s Desert Peas in spectacular fashion, I backlit some of the images and side lit others. The mid morning sunlight shone through the petals giving them a glow and the direct sun on the edges blew out to give dramatic lighting.

I used a wide lens, mostly at it’s longest focal length and a medium to long depth of field.

The images were created as Nikon RAW files (NEF) and simply processed in Irfanview with Resize, Sharpen and Auto Adjust Colour, then saved as JPEG files at 85% quality, ready for the web.

I’m always pleased to receive comments about the subject matter, photography and my presentation.