It's dandelion season and if you haven't killed the ones in your yard, you could pick them right there, or head to your local park, they will have some.

If you don't mind getting down on the ground you could shoot them on the stem, or if you want to make it easier, pick one and use a Plamp to hold it up in the air while you sit on a stool or like me on the edge of my porch. Much easier on the body.

You could place a background behind the seedhead, or I'm using the grass off in the distance for this shot. 

You can pick off some of the seeds and create different looks. 

Lots of different ways to shoot these.  Everything in focus with a high f/stop number or use a small f/stop number for softer look.

Be creative on ways to compose them, and maybe do some creative post processing.

Booking camera club zoom meetings, need a speaker, let me know, macrogeekmike@yahoo.com

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DEET Facts

DEET is N,N-diethyl-meta-toluamide, which repels mosquitoes and ticks including the ticks that cause Lyme disease. It was developed by the U.S. Army in 1946 before being released for public use in 1957. Currently, DEET is available in concentrations between 4 percet and 100 percent, in more than 140 products in lotion, spray, liquid and impregnated forms (like wristbands).

On the downside, users complain that DEET in higher concentrations is known to be greasy, smell bad and corrode synthetic fabrics.

Research on DEET Concentrations

Researchers in 2002 undertook an experiment comparing the effectiveness of several commercially available insect repellents against mosquito bites. M.S. Fradin and J.F. Day tested the repellents on 15 volunteers who placed their arms into a test cage containing 10 young female mosquitoes. The researchers recorded the time before the first mosquito bite.

They concluded that “DEET-based products provided complete protection for the longest duration. Higher concentrations of DEET provided longer-lasting protection. A formulation containing 23.8 percent DEET had a mean complete-protection time of 301.5 minutes.

The New England Journal of Medicine published the article “Comparative Efficacy of Insect Repellents against Mosquito Bites” in its July 4, 2002 edition.

Complete Protection Time Increases with Concentration

The researchers tested 16 products in total, six of which contained DEET. The concentrations and mean duration of protection are as follows:

23.8 percent: 301.5 minutes (just over five hours) 20 percent: 234.4 minutes (just under four hours) 6.65 percent: 112.4 minutes (almost two hours) 4.75 percent: 88.4 minutes (just under an hour and a half)

As the researchers observed, “The alcohol-based product containing 23.8 percent DEET protected significantly longer than the controlled-release formulation containing 20 percent DEET.” Two wristbands impregnated with a concentration of 9.5 percent DEET provided effectively no protection.

Criticisms

One physician complained in a letter to the NEJM that “Drs. Fradin and Day failed to include in their study a repellent with a DEET concentration greater than 23.8 percent.” This particular writer was a resident of “bush” Alaska who swore by 95 percent concentrations of DEET.

The researchers answered that most DEET products (at the time) contained 40 percent DEET or less, though a few were available at 95 percent. They claimed that “DEET's duration of action tends to plateau at concentrations higher than 50 percent, so relatively little additional benefit is afforded by 95 percent DEET.” That 50 percent plateau is widely reported, though the source of that information is uncertain.

Information, Misinformation and Anecdotal Evidence

Every source seems to tell a different story about DEET’s effectiveness. The Travel Medicine Alliance, an Australian alliance of medical doctors, advises that while the duration of protection is related to the concentration of DEET, “At a concentration of 50 percent, this effect plateaus. 30 percent DEET is the lowest effective dose.” So they agree with Fradin and Day about the plateau, but seem off the mark about the lowest effective dose.

The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control claims that “The efficacy of DEET plateaus at a concentration of 30 percent, the maximum concentration currently recommended for infants older than 2 months, children and adults.” (See Reference 5.) This contradicts EPA recommendations which are that DEET is approved for use on children with no age restriction, and that there is no restriction on the percentage of DEET for use on children.

Booking camera club zoom meetings, need a speaker, let me know, macrogeekmike@yahoo.com

Join my Macro Photo Club online. Over 280 instructional videos. Over 2800 members from 29 countries. 
Info and to sign up. 

MACRO PHOTO CLUB - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer

Also Check out my workshops and zoom programs.

WORKSHOPS - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer

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One subject in Spring I love to shoot are the fern fiddleheads. They come in so many different formations.

At the parks near my home there are wooded areas with lots of ferns, so many great opportunities. 

I typically use one of my backgrounds behind the fiddlehead to eliminate the clutter in the background.

By using the backgrounds, I can shoot as high of an f/stop I want, so usually from f/22 to f/32 to get the subjects all in focus.

With this one I found these two together and then positioned a skunk cabbage leaf behind the pair.

Here are some that are opening more.

This last one I shot with the natural background and shot with a smaller f/stop number to help soften the background, used an f/6.3.  Got very lucky to get most of the fiddlehead in focus at that small of an f/stop.

Booking camera club zoom meetings, need a speaker, let me know, macrogeekmike@yahoo.com

Join my Macro Photo Club online. Over 280 instructional videos. Over 2800 members from 29 countries. 
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MACRO PHOTO CLUB - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer

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Last year I visited the Chicago Botanical Gardens.  Had a great time and got some new images.  The whole time I used my backgrounds behind the flowers and shot every image at f/32, never changed my f/stop one time.  I wanted everything to be in focus and f/32 gives me maximum depth of field, getting the subjects all in focus. You will get some slight diffraction shooting at f/32, but the sharpening tools in post processing will correct that softness. I did some creative post processing on these images. Have more to process.

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MACRO PHOTO CLUB - Mike Moats - Award Winning Macro Photographer (tinylandscapes.com)

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