How To Honor Your Alma Mater

[Norm Dulak]

Nikon D300

105mm Micro Nikkor f/2.8 VRII lens w/36mm extension tube and stacked Nikon T5 & T6 close-up filters, tripod mounted

Electronic cable release w/mirror lock-up

ISO Equivalent 640; MM + 0.33; 1/60 sec @ f/32

PP in PS CS5: I applied the standard minor adjustments and also used Content Aware, to remove a bit of the driveway marker stakes that supported my mascot and were visible in the RAW fie. I also applied Topaz DeNoise v4 at the beginning. Minor cropping.

I've become very interested in dewdrops reflecting flowers. But alas, when I went out with my camera recently, there were no flowers near my dewdrops. But then I thought, hey, it's nearing football season! What about a tribute to my alma mater!? So, I substituted my Bucky Badger mascot doll mounted on two driveway marker stakes, upside-down, for the flowers missing behind my dewdrop. You see the result here.

To give the viewer some perspective, the dewdrop was about 1/8 inch in diameter, while Bucky measures 11 inches high x 8 inches wide. How's that for a packing job! I note that with such massive close-up hardware DOF becomes a precious commodity, so please give me a break here! My focus was mainly on the dewdrop!

I posted this image previously in the macro forum. But I think it really fits well here too, and if you want to honor your alma mater, grab your camera and your college/university mascot doll, find a dewdrop, and go for it!

Heck, you might even get your alumni association to publish your masterpiece, as happened here: http://www.uwalumni.com/home/badgers..._buckydew.aspx.

Norm

[Patti Edens]

:D That is so cool! Great idea and well done. Congrats on getting Bucky published!

[denise ippolito]

Norm, Very fun image! Good way to think OOTB! I might crop a little off the top if it were mine. Interesting image-Well done. Congrats!

[Cheryl Slechta]

Norm, what a neat idea and very OOTB!

[Kerry Perkins]

Hi Norm, this is really different and interesting! I love the perfect globe made by the droplet and your super capture. Very nice. Congrats on the article!

[Hilary Hann]

Very clever use of the dew drops. I've seen many images with natural reflections but I think this is the first time I've seen the technique used this way. Very effective indeed.

[Mark Fuge]

Neat image and application, Norm.

Bucky looks cute. But now that it's football season in Cheesehead land ... his expression would be much different, as he waits for the Buckeyes and Gophers to move into Camp Randall for a day. ;) :D

GO BUCKY!

[Norm Dulak]

Derogatory comments about the Badgers' football prospects notwithstanding:(, thanks to all of you for looking and sharing your thoughts!:)

And remember the many possibilities in dewdrops, whether they be the capture of colors and images supplied by flowers, or anything else your imaginations can conceive. This project has been fun for me, and here's wishing you good times with dewdrops as well!

Norm