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Inspired by Mikhail's recent dandelion post, I decided to see if I could get closer...

Individual dandelion seeds are damned difficult to shoot... You are so close to them, you really need to hold your breath while focusing otherwise they have a tendency to disappear...

Using a combination of close-up filters that added up to +7 on the front of the Nikkor 105mm Micro gets you this close...



I also took some shots of the complete seed-ball:

Uuumm, you've beaten me hard I'm envy! Very good results! What apperture did you use and what lightning? It doesn't look like flash

I really like that last one John, did you use the sb800 at all?

John

These are excellent. WHile I admire the technical feat of the first one (which is an impressive achievement), my favourite is the third one. It's beautifully lit, nice and sharp and there's a wonderful glow to it that's aided by the background and lighting you've used. Thanks for sharing these ones.

The first one was at F40 and the other 2 at f45 and I used the SB-800 for all of them, fitted to the hot-shoe and with the diffuser head on...
I took about 40 shots to get a few good ones and kept manually bracketing the shots by changing the flash compensation up and down...
For some of them I went as low as to -1.6ev so that there were not any significant highlights and then I boosted the exposure and brightness in ACR...

With the closeup filters attached, the depth of field is a matter of millimeters - even at f40, so it was very difficult to get the whole seed in focus...

Here's a crop of the seed end (that was almost in focus) which shows the delicate details of the seed.

Well done! Thanks for sharing, John!

Wow!! Very impressed John, you really upped the ante with these shots, great work!

Alpha_7 wrote:Wow!! Very impressed John, you really upped the ante with these shots, great work!

I didn't mean it to be a competition, but I do like the shots... Just shows you what you can do when you have a bit of time on your hands...

With a proper background, I think I could have done even better...

Excellent shots John

Good work. simple and effective.

Steve

I find these interesting because they cross the boundaries between science and art. My understanding is that good seed pods need (a) a seed pod and (b) some kind of mobility. The (b) is what really interests me. The mobilty of this one comes from the fluffy end which allows it to float, but there are other forms of mobility such as barbs to get things caught in animal fur, and shells that only open after bush-fires, giving a type of temporal mobility. There might be a nice three-shot pseudo Dorling Kindersley-style piece which could show multiple completely different forms of mobility side by side. Of course it depends on which way you want to take it. I am just suggesting this type of scientific angle because you were interested in the name of the priklious thingous a month or so ago.

By the way, was Mrs Leek impressed with the nice posy of dandelions you subsequently gave her?

Look good john, im not into this stuff but i am sure for those that are would like them.

thaddeus wrote:The (b) is what really interests me. The mobilty of this one comes from the fluffy end which allows it to float, but there are other forms of mobility such as barbs to get things caught in animal fur, and shells that only open after bush-fires, giving a type of temporal mobility.

Not to mention those encapsulated in delicious tasting fruit that are intended to achieve their mobility by passing through the digestive tract of the animal that ate the fruit...

thaddeus wrote:There might be a nice three-shot pseudo Dorling Kindersley-style piece which could show multiple completely different forms of mobility side by side.

I actually love the DK style of photo presentation... I must have a try at replicating it sometime...

thaddeus wrote:By the way, was Mrs Leek impressed with the nice posy of dandelions you subsequently gave her?