“The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are socommon. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be themost startling event in the world.”

“The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are so common. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be the most startling event in the world.”
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

Despite Dandelions being the bane of any lawn they are pretty to photograph... and I took pleasure in plucking out the seeds to leave only one using tweezers. (does hurting flowers/plants make me a masochist ??)

There are several quotes I liked about Dandelions that didn't make the title. “Oh, hardy flower, disdained as weed,
Despised for head of feathery seed,
Your unsung virtues rate a ballad,
Choice roots for wine, crisp leaves for salad.”

Sycamore Bud

Sycamore Bud
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

This was a very bland, flat and boring shot so I gave it some textrue treatment in photoshop and heh presto... something far more interesting and visually appealing.

Thanks to skeletalmess for the following textures (bokah2, ageing effects5 and painted canvas) I applied a layer mask to delete the bokah2 texture from over the bud itself.

Dragonfly Heart in a sea of Bokeh

Dragonfly Heart in a sea of Bokeh
Originally uploaded by Mark1970Vintage

This was taken in my garden a few weeks ago. I'm using a Nikon 105mm micronikkor f2.8 lens, strapped to my canon 40D with a cheapo adaptor from Ebay. It mean you can still do auto metering once the aperture is set (set aperture manually) but all the focussing in manual. It's a bit of a pain doing macro work on a manual lens as the depth of field is so small. I would love to get a canon 100mm macro lens but htere are other things ahead of that in my must have purchases.