I'm glad it worked.

The delicate lighting gives this a wonderful, ethereal quality. It's magnificent.

Looks damn impressive to me.

The hard work paid off - the best book: experience. Just keep at it!

Well I thing that the time you spend on it it's worthy. I still can't figure out, how it was posicionated.

Adriana: sorry, I should have said how I set this up. The seed is on a mirror, though the refleciton you can see is in the surface of the glass rather than the mirror itself, and the seed is lit by the light from the window (about ten feet away, in a direct line from the lens). I also used a pen-light torch to add a bit of light to the seed itself, hence the warm glow.

nice shot, i like the colors.

lovely

This is very impressive! Like the reflections at the bottom.

Very nice! But it's easier to get it sharp if you shoot it at a longer shutter time though... 2 sec? Or am i wrong? Very nice light!

Sorry... But i ment to ask you how you got the seed sharp at two sec shutter time, not to say that it ain't sharp, because it shure are! Cinda lost my point while doing a lot of stuff at the same time :p

doffer: I used a tripod and remote realease. I guess, given that even a tiny movement can effect the focus at this range, that I should have used mirror lock-up too - maybe next time.

Nice job on this macro shot...hopefully you can find a wind-free nook to shoot in :)

I'm totally impressed by this shot. And I can't believe you used a shutter of 2s! Crazy! I'd be too scared (or is it frustrated) that the seed would be blown away by a gentle breeze.

Technical question, how close can the macros lens focus?

Cheers.

the off center composition in this piece bothers me. I think it might look a little better if you cropped the right side. I like the general look of it though. The seed itself isn't as perfect as I'd like though, and the composition might improve with a better subject.

I think this shot rocks! I disagree wtih Jason; I like the off-center composition. I especially like the way you lit the seed itself. The warm tone there helps balance the shot, IMHO. What I'd like to know is how you are able to get 2 hours to set up and keep shooting shots like this. My wife or kids would never let me have that kind of time!

I liked it, but to be honest with you I thought it was a fishing lure at first.

Now I look forward to you shooting fishing lures!

i don't really know what to say. i'm impressed and touched. magical.

Well David, it was two well spent hours.
- Great result, love it..
And it really works perfect with my background music;
- Boards of Canada; "music is math" (Geogaddi, LP)

I love the light setting!

Wow, never knew that the seed had barbs. I think your troubles paid off!

Very nice...I can just picture the thing suddenly taking flight and not wanting to cooperate! Glad you stuck in there.

The ole' David is back. Great job mate. Fantastic photo, and hard work that paid off.

I don't know if you really feel that the shot was worth two hours, but it is incredible! Gorgeous and very dramatic, I love it.

Great shot! I like the imperfections in the seed, but I find myself distracted by the hint of reflections without getting to see more of them.

Wow! Amazing shot!

Macros focusing can be a pain. I use the same canon 100mm macro lense and while I love it, it's much harder than it looks to focus.

Did I mention this is an amazing shot? I love the reflection!

This is a wonderful shot mate. I love the orange hue of the seed body, and the soft reflection at the bottom.

Simply beautiful!

HI! THIS ONE IS FANTASTIC!

An absolute fantastic shot and well worth the time spent! :)

hhmmm... well, i think it looks amazing. i have to admit that i have a photo of a dandelion seed that i thought was great. now that i've seen yours, mine feels like the queen of blurry and undefined.

hmmm! : )

hard work paid off david, excellent shot. Ill bet it was a right ******** to shoot though being so light. Love that graduated colour in the reflection. Fingers, arms and legs crossed for the weather, see you later ;)

That's a great photo David. I have the Canon 100mm macro lens for my 20D as well, and I love it! Unfortunately it's my 2nd lens though, because my mum managed to drop my 20D and 1st one on the hardwood floor of my bedroom :P The camera was fine thankfully, but the plastic around the end of the lens smashed. Still, it proved to me the 20D is a robust camera ;)

I like the photo. I have a question though: what is the blur due to - focus range or movement? Seeing the pic stats, one could think it's the 2s exposure, but from the picture itself it seems it's really the depth of field.
In any case, I find it makes the "pure and dry" approach you seem to have taken here somewhat less effective.The atmosphere, with the cold background light and warm main subject color, is very publicity-like, too-pure-to-be-real. On the other hand, the blur makes it lose its edge and the nearly-haunting focus you managed to get out of the macro lens loses its effect.

new-art.blogspot.com

i like it, probably not the best of seen on your site tho. i haven't been here that often, but can easily spend two hours going through the archives. i don't think i could spend a few hours getting this shot tho. so credit to you for your persistance.

I thought it was wonderful, and I have no idea how you lit it. What kind of background did you use?

Dave

I'm speechless. How do you do such wonderful work? It is so unique and extraordinary. Keep up the awesome work.

woooow ... I'm speechless.
I love the lighting and the reflection.

Hang on a mo... you've got seeding dandelions up there? Wow. I've only seen ones just flowering here in Brighton, and believe me I checked cos I wanted to have a go at a macro shot of some after seeing this... The orange lighting definitely makes this shot special.

Thanks everyone.

Thinh: I'm not sure, about six inches I think. I'll check.

Jason: I agree, a less 'damaged' seed would probably have looked a bit better.

Aegir: Blackpool has better weather than Brighton ;-)

Perhaps an entry for this weeks Photo Friday theme? ; )

P.

this is certainly one of your best
great

I think this is very cool. I love the lighting. If it wasn't for the reflection you could think it was flying.

Well, you are known for having real high standards and I probably don't know enough about photography but this shot looks just perfect to me... The details are wonderful, how did you manage to get this little thing standing up like that. Pretty amazing...

I love the seed and the colour but the interest didn't sustain through to the centre of the picture... Not that i can achieve anything near to your standards though!! haha

Hi Dave,
One question. Make it two. What kind of lighting did you use? And where does it come from? My guess is from the left. The tip of d seed looks glowing but the foreground (table?) is dark. Just curious of your technique.

yes nice glow effect!!