I have neglected my yard for so long the weeds have taken over. I suppose it could be argued that dandelion leaves are a culinary delicacy to be cultivated but in my case, I’ve just let it go too far. When I went out to pick a bouquet of freesia to bring some spring fragrance into my house, I noted that my lawn was covered with dandelions ready to go to seed to ensure a continuing crop. Never one to be daunted by pests in and around my home, I plucked three and brought them in.
The hardest part of photographing these dandelions proved to be arranging a black back drop. I wanted to offset the white of the dandelion seed heads against a black background. When black tissue paper laid over a smallish picture frame proved too reflective, I found a scrap of black velvet which worked fine but it’s odd shape created pockets of reflective tissue. I finally cut the velvet and overlapped the two pieces but the overall backdrop was barely large enough and I kept getting edges of light in the photo. Using a tripod helped a little but when I made adjustments I frequently didn’t account for the small back drop and so I ruined many of the photos because of a triangle of reflection showing on an edge or a strip of window appearing at the top. Today I learned that I must make a large, non reflective backdrop to have on hand so I don’t spend most of my time fiddling around unnecessarily. For lighting I used my OTT light.
35mm lens
ISO 1600
f/1.8
1/1000
SOOC
Absolutely stunning!!! Frameable!!! I’ve been looking dandelions to photograph. Re: backdrop- I saw a pizza box and construction paper or poster board used for a backdrop- not as elegant as velvet, but maybe easier (depending on reflection factor). Maybe you need to set up a studio! 🙂