Buchnera americana (American bluehearts) is a highly conservative (Coefficient of Conservatism = 10) native species that occurs sporadically across southern Missouri on limestone/dolomite glades and prairies. Like many other species in the family Orobanchaceae, the plants are hemiparasitic—i.e., they steal nutrients from the roots of neighboring plants. In Missouri, plants bloom during most of summer and are easily recognized since there are no close lookalikes in the state.

Photographing native wildflowers in full sun during the middle of summer can be challenging, especially on a wide open glade. High sun washes out colors and creates excessive contrast. Flash can mitigate these issues but results in an unnatural dark background that some may find unappealing. Shading the plant is an alternative solution, but care must be taken in dealing with the background—if the background is also shaded, the flowers may not stand out well. Keeping the background sunny can solve this, but a properly exposed background then results in flowers that look dark and lifeless. What is the solution? Overexpose the background!

In the photo above, I shaded the plant, read the exposure at the base of the plant in Av mode (aperture priority) to determine optimal aperture/shutter settings, then switched to manual mode using those settings and a bit of fill flash. This resulted in nicely exposed, richly saturated flowers. The background, however, was almost completely blown, but rather than competing with the flowers, it let them stand out in dramatic fashion.

Photographed 20 June 2026 at Victoria Glades Conservation Area, Jefferson County. Tip of the hat to my good friend and photographer extraordinaire Casey Galvan, who taught me this trick.

©️ Ted C. MacRae 2026