2206_3661 Dandelion
Number 2 in the current series of square crops. Think of it as a celebration of square. My first camera - a Kodak Brownie Starflex from 1960 - shot square photos and had a waist level finder. Even though I was happy to make the transition to 35mm and rectangular format four years later, I have always retained a soft spot for the formal dimensions of the square crop. This image of a dandelion in seed was intended to be square from the moment I set up my tripod.
And it's a focus stack. I made 45 shots of the seed head, camera on tripod, slight change of focus for each shot, then combined them. It's a different look from what I've been able to obtain in the past with a single shot. Shooting with a fairly wide f-stop, I had excellent sharpness along the plane of focus, and the 45 separate planes of focus created good depth of field, but not enough to produce confusing background shapes that would disrupt the pattern. Disclaimer: I may sound like I know what I'm talking about, but the truth is I am experimenting with this technique and there's still a lot of guesswork going into it.
The black and white conversion was an afterthought.
Photographed in my backyard, where there is no shortage of dandelions, in Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2022 James R. Page - all rights reserved.
2206_3661 Dandelion
Number 2 in the current series of square crops. Think of it as a celebration of square. My first camera - a Kodak Brownie Starflex from 1960 - shot square photos and had a waist level finder. Even though I was happy to make the transition to 35mm and rectangular format four years later, I have always retained a soft spot for the formal dimensions of the square crop. This image of a dandelion in seed was intended to be square from the moment I set up my tripod.
And it's a focus stack. I made 45 shots of the seed head, camera on tripod, slight change of focus for each shot, then combined them. It's a different look from what I've been able to obtain in the past with a single shot. Shooting with a fairly wide f-stop, I had excellent sharpness along the plane of focus, and the 45 separate planes of focus created good depth of field, but not enough to produce confusing background shapes that would disrupt the pattern. Disclaimer: I may sound like I know what I'm talking about, but the truth is I am experimenting with this technique and there's still a lot of guesswork going into it.
The black and white conversion was an afterthought.
Photographed in my backyard, where there is no shortage of dandelions, in Val Marie, Saskatchewan (Canada). Don't use this image on websites, blogs, or other media without explicit permission ©2022 James R. Page - all rights reserved.