Another one from yesterday. If you're wondering why I've suddenly gone all droplet and girly it's because I was stuck in the house yesterday waiting for a guy to come and replace my bathroom window and all I could think of doing was one of these... plus there was only one left in the garden and it was getting windy, so I thought I'd better grab it before the wind did

A Few Tips

Just a couple of tips for anyone who thinks taking things like this is a difficult thing to do, it isn't. Providing you have a macro lens or a compact with a decent macro capability, you'll be fine, granted you wont get the same depth of field on a compact and you may not be able to get quite this close, but remember you can always crop if you're happy with more shot in focus and a smaller print.

Find something that can atomize water, like a plant sprayer or, if you're stuck, many hair sptritzing products are fitted with an atomizer, or even a trigger window / oven / surface cleaner bottle (make sure you thoroughly wash the contents out first and don't get it on your hands).

Pop your dandelion head into a glass (leave the stalk on to hold it up) and gently tease a few seed heads out so they are prominent, alternatively if you only want one seed, strip all but the one you need out or leave a few so you can turn the dandelion around and try again if you mess up.

Spray the head very gently with the mist setting on your sprayer and keep going until you have the amount you want on the seed. Don't do it so much you drench it or it flies off, remember these are veeeeeeeeeery delicate.

Find a windowsill out of direct sunlight. We don't want a silhouette, but we don't want the highlights to be blown out or the edges of the droplets to lose their definition.

Place your camera on a steady surface like the back if a chair, a stool or even better a tripod if you have one... and go for it. Experiment with different apertures and move the subject around.

Remember your background isn't so important if you're using wide apertures like f/1.8 or f/2.8 but if you're going smaller try to position so you have a neutral or fairly smoothly graduated background. If you want some sparkle bokeh in the background you can place another head a good distance behind and spray that too, when the light catches it at large apertures it'll help give you the effect you want, but make sure it's not too contrasty or you'll lose definition in your primary subject.

I'm no pro photographer but these are just common sense tips I've self learned along the way.

Most importantly, have fun!