Smooth cordgrass and a grass called “salt hay” make up most of the salt marsh grasses you see in New Hampshire
It’s hard to pass up a summer sunset over the salt marsh. In this photo, the type of plant shown is called smooth cordgrass. Smooth cordgrass and a grass called “salt hay” make up most of the salt marsh grasses you see in New Hampshire, where I live.
I enjoy this photo because it has a unique perspective. It was taken a couple feet off the ground, at the height of the cordgrass. It took a few shots to get everything to come together. These are some of the things I was trying to manage when I took this shot:
- The sun had to hit the horizon.
- Avoid lens flaring. What is lens flaring? You may have experienced this when shooting directly at light sources, like the sun. The light scatters in the lens, and it can create unwanted color smears on your image.
- Catch Ben’s distant silhouette in frame. Ben did not know he was a part of this shot, so I just had to hope he wasn’t going to move. If you look closely, you can see Ben is shooting a photo too.
- Stay still and steady for a sharp low-light shot. This can be fun when there are bugs flying everywhere!
The nice part about shooting photos in your “backyard” is that if you don’t get the shot, you can always try again tomorrow! There have been lots of days I’ve tried to get a “keeper shot” and come up with nothing.
Did you know? A salt marsh can convert more carbon dioxide to oxygen that a forest of the same size.
Why should we care about salt marsh grasses? These grasses can help filter polluted water from land, and remove excess nutrients.
Salt marshes can convert more carbon dioxide to oxygen that a forest of the same size.
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