Sometimes Chris and I set out with our cameras looking for something to photograph, and sometimes we don’t go much farther than our own neighborhood where we find things like dandelions. They actually make fascinating macro subjects! So here is a dandelion that I photographed with a macro lens – you didn’t see that one coming, did you?
Photographing tall flowers (or weeds in this case) with a macro lens when there’s a breeze can be a bit of a challenge. When you’re focusing at a close distance with a macro lens, the slightest movement can result in a mis-focused image. The best thing to do is to at least steady your camera on a tripod so that you aren’t also moving in addition to the subject, but I didn’t have one with me. So in lieu of a tripod, I steadied my camera over the dandelion by sitting down criss-cross (applesauce) style and propping my elbows onto my knees, camera in hand. Whenever I’m shooting with the macro lens, I tend to take a deep breath and hold it so that I’m not shaking the camera with my own breath. It was a bright day so I was able to use a fast shutter speed. I also overexposed by about a stop since my subject was mostly white.
It reminds me of fireworks, so I thought it would be a good photo for July 4th!
