Hazel catkins and pollen

[Jonathan Ashton]

Tripod Canon 7D Canon 180mm macro ISO 400 1/320 sec f8.
We had a little sunshine so I took the opportunity to photograph these catkins in the back garden. I tapped the twig and my wife fired the shutter. I have previously tried this with backlighting provided by flash but this time I thought I would go for entirely natural lighting. Do you see the tiny female red flowers, I had to desaturate them just a little, other than that it is a straight shot, just sharpened in Photoshop. In an ideal world there would have been a little clear space on the right but unfortunately it wasn't to be.
All C&C welcome.

[John Rowell]

You've really stopped the pollen and let the pods show good motion blur. Really nice job of telling a story here. I agree with you that some room on the right would have been nice, but I still like this a lot. TFS.

[Jerry van Dijk]

Hi Jonathan, although I like the action feeling of this shot, I think there is a bit too much blurriness going on for the eye to be able to focus on something. I think you can improve this shot easily (including the comp issues you mention) with some more preparation and different settings. First, look for a branch with a few isolated catkins at the end (I shot them yesterday and was able to nicely isolate them with some room on the right). Second, take the shot from a larger distance, and crop later. Not only will this increase your chances of getting all catkins in the frame, it will also give you more DOF with the same aperture. In that way you can increase the shutter speed (by increasing the aperture) without compromising your DOF.
Very good that you mention the mention those female flowers. I had never noticed them before, but they are very special!

[Andre van As]

Hi Jonathan
Great effect with the pollen - I also like the color gradient of your OOF background which provides depth and richness to the image overall. Agree with other comments about needing more DOF.

Regards

Andre

[Steve Maxson]

Hi Jon. So your wife actually took the photo. :S3: The photo does a very good job of showing the pollen cloud released when the catkins are disturbed and the blur in the catkins helps to convey the sense of motion. Thanks for pointing out the tiny female flowers as I expect they are typically overlooked by most people. I might wish that the stem was sharper to give my eye something to lock onto - though using a higher shutter speed might also take away the motion blur in the catkins. I agree that more room on the right (and bottom) would improve the comp. Jerry has some interesting suggestions above that you might consider.

[Jonathan Ashton]

Thanks everyone, the trick if you try this is to apply a short light tap ideally with something light like a pencil held loosely. I did it incorrectly - forgot my previous technique in the heat of the moment but a light quick tap will induce a shock to make the pollen fall without disturbing the catkins.