Raining heavily today, so staying indoors the C-19 way was not difficult. I collected some dandelion heads yesterday and decided to give them a make-over with proper UV macro treatment. In this case, the Coastal 60mm f/4 APO reversed on extension to give m=2.52X. Camera D600 full-spectrum, filter Baader U, focus stacking N=59 frames in Zerene.
The CO 60 did make a slight hot spot in this configuration thus I have designed a better hood for it to mitigate the potential flare issue. However, sharpness and detail rendition are both excellent. This is a small 100% crop of the frame. Dandelion pollination biology is entertaining stuff on several levels. The plants simply don't need any pollinators at all, yet provide lots of goodies for all the pollinating insects eagerly attracted to these flower heads. The style is designed like a chimney sweeper's brush and push through the tube of fused anthers on their way, thus getting a good dusting of pollen grains. Afterwards, the style front splits into two revealing the receptive stigmatic areas inside, which are purely superfluous as the flower already is self-fertilised. A true unrequited love affair.
