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Wolf Lichen

 

I captured this photograph of Wolf Lichen (Letharia vulpina) at Artist Point in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone lower falls area. I was walking over to an overlook to photograph the waterfall when I spotted lichen growing on an old pine tree. The bright colors stood out and caught my attention.

Letharia vulpina, commonly known as the wolf lichen is bright yellow-green, shrubby and highly branched, and grows on the bark of living and dead conifers in parts of western and continental Europe, the Pacific Northwest and northern Rocky Mountains of Western North America. This species is somewhat toxic to mammals due to the yellow pigment vulpinic acid, and has been used historically as a poison for wolves and foxes. It has also been used traditionally by many native North American ethnic groups as a pigment source for dyes and paints.

Wolf Lichen
Wolf Lichen

This image was taken with my Canon EOS 5DS using my Canon EF 100-400mm f/4.5-5.6 II Lens set on 400mm. I captured this image without the use of a tripod. The camera was set on Aperture Priority mode with the aperture set at f/8, shutter speed at 1/4th of a second and the ISO set at 100. This is a single image processed in Lightroom then finalized in Photoshop using Color Efex Pro.

You can access my Yellowstone/Grand Teton collection by clicking here. Please use the section below to post your comments, questions or suggestions.

T. Kahler Photography
© 2016 T. Kahler Photography

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