I went for a walk today instead of running to see if there were any Dandelions in the local park. It wasn't the best weather for photographs and started to drizzle almost as soon as I took the lens cap off.
This photography seemed a challenge for my camera and it really seemed to have a hard time focusing on the fluff umbrellas of the seeds. I took a few photos before it started raining really hard. I've already lost one camera to water damage in the past so I'm trying to make my new one last.
When I came home to edit these I really didn't think they would be much good. The lighting was so bad as it was very cloudy but out of the entire batch, these two are probably the best. I think the people in the park were intrigued by me trying to find a suitable way to take these as I don't have a tripod or even a monopod. Maybe I should consider in investing in one for this kind of photography.
Full Dandelions are really nice subjects. The fluff umbrella seems to make a halo which works well when you increase the contrast of the image. The dandelions that aren't still full (where their seeds have already taken flight) sometimes look more authentic to me, they don't appear perfect anymore, but they've actually already accomplished their job.
Doesn't that look just like the perfect place for a fairy to sit? Not the best shot because I was trying to focus on the seed fluff and my camera's autofocus was going berserk.
My close up photography still has a long way to go, but I enjoyed the practice. The lens that I'm using is not particularly high quality and it's exceptionally slow, so if there's even the smallest breeze, I'm bound to have blur and that doesn't really look good with these flowers, unless it's the seed blowing away. I was hoping to capture that but wasn't able to get a good shot.
These images were taken by me for the @qurator Photo Quest Competition. The first photo is my submission for entry
Canon EOS with (very slow) macro lens
Images are my own, edited in Lightroom
Which do you prefer - colour or black & white when it comes to dandelions?