This particular image is a focus stack from two images.  I have been working a bit more with focus stacking using Zerene stacker and find it very useful – in particular for someone like me who does not have a lot of time.

Dandelion seeds can actually be rather tricky to photograph.  I usually find that more than 1:1 magnification is required so I use my MP-E 65 anywhere from 1:1 to 2:1.  Generally the seeds do not stay still so a flash is required.  It can be quite tricky though getting the seed in your viewfinder and in focus as they tend to sway quite a bit in the wind – causing the seed to come in and out of my viewfinder.

This swaying further complicates getting a good set of images for a focus stack.  The only way I have found to combat this so far is by taking a number of images.  After taking a good number of shots, I am able to evaluate them right on the camera so the majority of the shots never see Lightroom.

The above shot was taken closer to 1:1 so you can see the magnification difference.  It also suffered from extreme swaying and due to the number of seeds involved I was not able to take a set that worked well enough for focus stacking.  Still, I rather like the shot though my wife says I needed to ‘add’ one more seed to make it an odd number.

Using flash with dandelion seeds can also be a bit tricky.  The problem is the dandelion makes up only a small part of the image so the camera will often overexpose through the flashes.  This tends to cause the seed to be blown out.  The best way to compensate for this is to dial the flash back.  I often dial my MT-24EX back between –1 1/3 to –2.

This image I liked better as I was creating it than I like the final product.  The image I wanted was successfully executed – doing a multiple image focus stack so all of the seeds are in focus.  However in this case I believe the seed head is exceptionally ugly and really distracts from the shot.  The seed head looks rather old and stale.  Still, I think it is an idea worth exploring more – perhaps with a full head of seeds.

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The following is an experiment I did with a different daisy shot in Photoshop.  Here’s the original shot with no post processing.

I strengthened the shadows on it, upped the contrast, and did some light leveling to get this shot.

I think I like the second take a bit better, though I’m not sure if it is too simple.  Ironically this would probably make a good stock picture, though it would likely be rejected because the microstock sites have far too many daisy shots already.  I think Iike the concept of the white daisy on a dark background, but I’m not sure I think it is executed best in this shot.  Perhaps I have some daisies in my garden that my poor gardening skills haven’t killed yet and I can play around with this a bit more.

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This is clearly only an average shot, but the main purpose was to play around with Photoshop and see how I could improve it.

I made the following changes.

1) Changed the contrast a bit to bring out the flower.

2) Darkened shadows to reduce the distraction of the leaves around it.

3) Created a mask around the flower and then used levels on the leaves to further weaken them.

4) Using the layer mask, I then used levels to bring out the purple in the flower a bit more.

5) Deleted the leaf in the upper right corner.

6) One of the major problems with this shot is the flower is old and faded.  I attempted to ‘fix it up’ a bit in Photoshop.

Here’s the resulting image.

This shot still isn’t an award winner.  I should have chosen a flower that was more fresh instead.  Still, I think I did improve over the original shot.

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This is a cranesbill flower, related to geraniums.  The interesting thing when taking this picture was I had the opportunity to use a rather shallow depth of field.  I kind of like the effect here.  One can still make out the leaves but the stem is not visible.  I could blur the leaves more in Photoshop, but I rather like the effect out of the camera.  I took this at f/5 – which I wouldn’t dare think of for most insects.

I tried a number of different shots of this one flower.  Here’s one where the flower is a bit smaller in the frame.

Here’s another viewpoint with two different shots.  The first was taken at f/11 while the second was taken at f/7.1.

In general I like the shallower depth of field shot more, but I wish I had used an even shallower depth of field.  Here are some other shots I took that day.  The second shot was actually taken with my MP-E 65.  It does a good job of getting closeup shots like this, but in general I think the 180L is the king when it comes to flower shots.  I just need to practice a bit more.

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