Bad photo and why it's bad . . .

Sometimes I get so carried away that I forget to think. For instance, thinking about shallow depth of field and how I like the way water droplets look in the background, all out of focus and sparkly, made me think of something else. Some of you in my class alumni group may recall the cool holographic paper that I found a couple of years ago and sent out to those of you who requested it. Remember how it created pretty multicolored sparkles in the background? Well, I figured why not use it with the dandelion puff to put sparkles behind it?

Big mistake. But why? The reason why is because I became enamored of the EFFECT rather than the overall photograph. I figured, "Cool sparkly stuff behind dandelion puff" without really thinking about why I was photographing the dandelion puff to begin with.

To make things worse, I tried to tone down the sparkles, and so I put RED sparkly netting in FRONT of the holographic paper. Sheesh. What the heck am I thinking? Here's the result. A weird photograph of a dandelion seed hanging from a dandelion puff.

And you can see that this dandelion seed is getting tired. It's "hairs" are beginning to bend in strange directions, it's about to fall off the "mother ship," and it's not really sharp. (Actually, one could say the same thing about ME, but I digress . . .)

We have to make a lot of mistakes along the way. And this is one. Of many. And it won't be the last. At least I KNOW it's a mistake! Wish I'd known it an hour or so ago . . . ©Carol Leigh

Yet more dandelions

I've got these dandelion puffs all over the studio, and even though the seeds fly off in the slightest breeze, the puffs are surprisingly sturdy. My background for these shots is a piece of brown kraft paper that I use to clean my paintbrushes, so there are splotches and blobs and stripes of various colors all over the place. Maybe not the ideal background, but it's fun to play and see what happens. I used a 100mm macro lens and extension tubes to move in close. I'll be describing and demonstrating this entire set-up in my upcoming macro class being held in Castro Valley, California on October 10th. Click the photo over on the right side for information and a registration form. It would be great if you could be there! ©Carol Leigh

Yet another dandelion

Beginning with a dandelion puff and a piece of blue fabric, I used a macro lens, various extension tubes, and a close-up diopter to move in tight. My online class is working on the color blue at the moment, so I thought I'd join in and created this. ©Carol Leigh

More dandelions . . .

The seeds on this dandelion puff pretty much all blew off in the wind before I could get it home, so I made do with the few that were left. The first two shots were taken with a 100mm macro lens plus some extension tubes and then toned slightly blue in Photoshop. They had a bluish cast to begin with, so adding a bit more blue seemed appropriate. The third shot was taken with a 50mm lens and a couple of extension tubes. I used a flashlight to give the center portion a bit of a glow. ©Carol Leigh

Dandelions yet again . . .

I think this is gonna be it for the dandelions for a while. At least, this is it for the daily photo blog. Time to show you all something else. What will it be? Darned if I know tonight . . . tomorrow's another day. ©Carol Leigh

Dandelions again . . .

The beauty (and the curse) of photography is that everything is always in flux. Your skills change, your way of seeing changes, your interests change, your equipment changes, computers and software change, your proficiency with computers and software changes. What seems to remain constant is the sheer delight in seeing or creating something incredibly beautiful and/or different. Whether I'm photographing rusty oil cans or dandelion puffs, clock faces, cats, or sunsets, the common denominator is finding the beauty in everything. Here's wishing you the ability to do the same. ©Carol Leigh

Dandelion part deux

At 6:50 this morning I figured I'd spend about 20 minutes photographing a dandelion. More than an hour later I came up for air. I'm trying to create images that reflect the light and airy nature of these beautiful weeds and so am purposely overexposing my shots and purposely using very shallow depth of field. The gear? Various combinations of a 100mm macro lens, extension tubes, and a two-element close-up diopter. ©Carol Leigh

Dandelion

A new opportunity, and they've been here year after year, and I've never REALLY taken the time to photograph them. After all, they're just weeds . . . ©Carol Leigh

Leaving the nest

I picked up this dandelion puff on my walk this morning and was taken by the way one little seed was ready to drift away, yet still clung to the "mother ship." I didn't have a macro lens on the camera, so did the best I could with the 18-55mm I did have. This is worth doing again "for real," in the studio. Once the rain stops I think I'll head out and gather a few more and see if I can replicate this concept, using more appropriate equipment. ©Carol Leigh